![\"President](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/credit-ABC-news.jpg\")
<\/a>Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma\u2019s address on the 50th anniver\u00adsary of the Sel\u00adma to Mont\u00adgomery march con\u00adtained moral clar\u00adi\u00adty that is miss\u00ading from his nego\u00adti\u00ada\u00adtions with Tehran. [Cred\u00adit: ABC<\/span> News]<\/p><\/div>Amer\u00adi\u00adca is not some frag\u00adile thing. We are large, in the words of Whit\u00adman, con\u00adtain\u00ading mul\u00adti\u00adtudes. We are bois\u00adter\u00adous and diverse and full of ener\u00adgy, per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly young in spir\u00adit. <\/em>Pres\u00adi\u00addent Barack Oba\u00adma, March 7, 2015, Sel\u00adma, Alabama<\/a>\n The days when the Jew\u00adish peo\u00adple remained pas\u00adsive in the face of geno\u00adci\u00addal ene\u00admies, those days are over\u2026.Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. <\/em>Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Ben\u00adjamin Netanyahu, March 3, 2015, Wash\u00ading\u00adton<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two speech\u00ades, deliv\u00adered just four days apart, remind\u00aded us how lead\u00aders can moti\u00advate and inspire, stir our pas\u00adsions and call us to great things. Most of all, they can bring moral clar\u00adi\u00adty to the com\u00adplex real\u00adi\u00adties of a messy world.<\/p>\n The address\u00ades by Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma and Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Netanyahu were oases in the rhetor\u00adi\u00adcal desert of con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary polit\u00adi\u00adcal dis\u00adcourse. That waste\u00adland is pop\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded by jad\u00aded chat\u00adter\u00aders who would rather incite than inspire, manip\u00adu\u00adlate than per\u00adsuade, obfus\u00adcate than enlighten.<\/p>\n Netanyahu was Churchillian, remind\u00ading us that no good comes of com\u00adpro\u00admis\u00ading with evil. The Pres\u00adi\u00addent turned phras\u00ades wor\u00adthy of Dr. King, who led the march from Sel\u00adma to Mont\u00adgomery 50 years ago to defy the evil of racial segregation.<\/p>\n And though the two men are thought to despise each oth\u00ader, the speech\u00ades are marked by a com\u00admon moral lucid\u00adi\u00adty. Each called us to what the Pres\u00adi\u00addent termed \u201cmoral imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion.\u201d Each urged his audi\u00adence to choose the hard\u00ader path. Both speech\u00ades were steeped in his\u00adto\u00adry but fixed on the future. Both appealed to Scrip\u00adture, exhort\u00ading us to be \u201cres\u00adolute and strong,\u201d to \u201crun and not grow weary.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pres\u00adi\u00addent praised Dr. King and the Sel\u00adma marchers for their \u201cfaith in God [and] also faith in Amer\u00adi\u00adca.\u201d King\u2019s \u201cfaith in the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan exper\u00adi\u00adment,\u201d the Pres\u00adi\u00addent said, lay in his \u201cbelief that Amer\u00adi\u00adca is not yet fin\u00adished,\u201d that it can \u201cmore close\u00adly align with our high\u00adest ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Sel\u00adma,\u201d he said, \u201cis not some out\u00adlier in the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan expe\u00adri\u00adence.\u201d It stands in a long tra\u00addi\u00adtion of reform and renew\u00adal that thrives \u201cnot by reassert\u00ading the past, but by tran\u00adscend\u00ading the past.\u201d And though \u201cthe march is not yet over \u2026 the race is not yet won,\u201d Amer\u00adi\u00adca is in a much dif\u00adfer\u00adent \u2013 a much bet\u00adter \u2013 place with regard to racial atti\u00adtudes than it was when Dr. King led that march.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>We hon\u00ador those who walked so we could run,\u201d he con\u00adclud\u00aded. \u201cWe must run so our chil\u00addren soar. And we will not grow weary. For we believe in the pow\u00ader of an awe\u00adsome God, and we believe in this country\u2019s sacred promise.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu remind\u00aded us that Israel, too, is a nation born of sacred promise. Like Oba\u00adma, he invoked his country\u2019s his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal iden\u00adti\u00adty. \u201cIn our near\u00adly 4,000 years of his\u00adto\u00adry,\u201d he said, \u201cmany have tried repeat\u00aded\u00adly to destroy the Jew\u00adish peo\u00adple.\u201d He sum\u00admoned the mem\u00ado\u00adry of Haman, an ancient Per\u00adsian viceroy who plot\u00adted geno\u00adcide against the Jews 2,500 years ago. Haman\u2019s foiled plot, Netanyahu argued, is today being revived with \u201cIran\u2019s quest for nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n A nuclear Iran would be posi\u00adtioned to achieve the Aya\u00adtol\u00adlah Khamenei\u2019s stat\u00aded goal of anni\u00adhi\u00adlat\u00ading Israel. But Iran\u2019s regime, he argued, \u201cis not mere\u00adly a Jew\u00adish prob\u00adlem, any more than the Nazi regime was mere\u00adly a Jew\u00adish prob\u00adlem.\u201d The coun\u00adtry has been \u201chijacked by reli\u00adgious zealots,\u201d whose con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion<\/a> \u201cpledges death, tyran\u00adny and the pur\u00adsuit of jihad.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu paint\u00aded a dark pic\u00adture of Tehran\u2019s cur\u00adrent gov\u00adern\u00adment, which is thought to be more mod\u00ader\u00adate than its pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor. He notes that Iran now dom\u00adi\u00adnates four Arab cap\u00adi\u00adtals (Bagh\u00addad, Dam\u00adas\u00adcus, Beirut and Sanaa), spon\u00adsors glob\u00adal ter\u00adror\u00adism, and \u201changs gays, per\u00adse\u00adcutes Chris\u00adtians, jails jour\u00adnal\u00adists and exe\u00adcutes more pris\u00adon\u00aders\u201d than its pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor, the Ahmadine\u00adjad government.<\/p>\n And while ISIS<\/span> is \u201carmed with butch\u00ader knives, cap\u00adtured weapons and YouTube,\u201d Iran is deter\u00admined to acquire nuclear weapons. \u201cThe great\u00adest dan\u00adger fac\u00ading our world,\u201d he argued, \u201cis the mar\u00adriage of mil\u00adi\u00adtant Islam with nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n He warned against U.S. sup\u00adport for a deal with Iran that would legit\u00adimize its nuclear enrich\u00adment pro\u00adgram and lift eco\u00adnom\u00adic sanc\u00adtions. Such a deal, he said, \u201cdoesn\u2019t block Iran\u2019s path to the bomb; it paves Iran\u2019s path to the bomb.\u201d The deal wouldn\u2019t be a \u201cfarewell to arms; it would be a farewell to arms con\u00adtrol\u201d that would turn the region into a \u201cnuclear tinderbox.\u201d<\/p>\n The alter\u00adna\u00adtive to such an agree\u00adment is nei\u00adther war nor a refusal to nego\u00adti\u00adate with Tehran. \u201cThe alter\u00adna\u00adtive to this bad deal is a much bet\u00adter deal,\u201d he said, a deal that would require Iran to renounce its geno\u00adci\u00addal inten\u00adtions, aggres\u00adsion against its neigh\u00adbors and sup\u00adport for glob\u00adal terrorism.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Stand\u00ading up to Iran is not easy,\u201d he said. \u201cStand\u00ading up to mur\u00adder\u00adous regimes nev\u00ader is.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pres\u00adi\u00addent has no inten\u00adtion of stand\u00ading up to Iran. He regards Netanyahu\u2019s clear-eyed assess\u00adment of the Iran\u00adian brand of Islamism as obstruc\u00adtion\u00adist. He wants an accord with the aya\u00adtol\u00adlahs and has made enor\u00admous con\u00adces\u00adsions to secure one. It will be up to his suc\u00adces\u00adsor \u2013 and those who will live in the shad\u00adow of a resur\u00adgent Per\u00adsian colos\u00adsus \u2013 to deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma is con\u00advinced that accom\u00admo\u00addat\u00ading Iran\u2019s mani\u00ada\u00adcal regime is a rea\u00adson\u00adable thing to do. Though he speaks with moral pre\u00adci\u00adsion against racism at home, fog envelopes his moral imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion when con\u00adfront\u00aded with the vir\u00adu\u00adlent hatred spewed by the ayatollahs.<\/p>\n Their geno\u00adci\u00addal ambi\u00adtions are, for the Pres\u00adi\u00addent, mere\u00adly a \u201cnar\u00adra\u00adtive\u201d to be coun\u00adtered, as the recent\u00adly con\u00adclud\u00aded White House Sum\u00admit<\/a> on Coun\u00adter\u00ading Vio\u00adlent Extrem\u00adism laid out. He refus\u00ades to con\u00adcede that this nox\u00adious agen\u00adda, though expound\u00aded by Koran\u00adic schol\u00adars and prac\u00adticed by peo\u00adple will\u00ading to die (and kill) for their faith, bears any rela\u00adtion\u00adship to that reli\u00adgion. It is mere social phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon, the detri\u00adtus of colo\u00adnial\u00adism, a \u201cvio\u00adlent extrem\u00adism\u201d that can be reme\u00addied by a pro\u00adpa\u00adgan\u00adda and social wel\u00adfare offen\u00adsive to \u201ccounter extrem\u00adists\u2019 nar\u00adra\u00adtives, rein\u00adte\u00adgrate for\u00admer vio\u00adlent extrem\u00adists, and pro\u00admote tol\u00ader\u00adance and non-vio\u00adlent dis\u00adpute resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n A Pres\u00adi\u00addent who elo\u00adquent\u00adly lament\u00aded \u201cthe stain of slav\u00adery and anguish of civ\u00adil war, the yoke of seg\u00adre\u00adga\u00adtion and tyran\u00adny of Jim Crow\u201d grows strange\u00adly clin\u00adi\u00adcal and blood\u00adless when faced with the vile and fero\u00adcious creed of his Per\u00adsian nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00ading part\u00adners. And while it would be fool\u00adish to hold the aya\u00adtol\u00adlahs to the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan val\u00adues Oba\u00adma has praised, it is equal\u00adly fool\u00adish to dis\u00adcount their dark ambi\u00adtions and mur\u00adder\u00adous intentions.<\/p>\n Tehran is as com\u00admit\u00adted to glob\u00adal jihad and Israel\u2019s extinc\u00adtion as Bull Con\u00adnor was to Jim Crow and white suprema\u00adcy. The Pres\u00adi\u00addent would be wise to bring the unblink\u00ading moral clar\u00adi\u00adty of his Sel\u00adma speech to his bar\u00adgain\u00ading ses\u00adsions with Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amer\u00adi\u00adca is not some frag\u00adile thing. We are large, in the words of Whit\u00adman, con\u00adtain\u00ading mul\u00adti\u00adtudes. We are bois\u00adter\u00adous and diverse and full of ener\u00adgy, per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly young in spir\u00adit. Pres\u00adi\u00addent Barack Oba\u00adma, March 7, 2015, Sel\u00adma, Alaba\u00adma The days when \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading