Obamaback? Brownbama?

David Weigel | May 21, 2007

The "bleeding heart conservative" and RFK 2.0 are teaming up to... threaten Iran.

Sens. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, are teaming up to sponsor legislation that seeks to encourage divestment from companies that support Iran.

"The time has come for the federal government to assist citizens, institutional investors, and state and local governments in divesting from companies that support the Iranian regime," Brownback said in a statement. "The Iranian regime is the world's biggest state sponsor of terror, proudly flaunts an illegal nuclear program, and continues to violate the basic human rights of the Iranian people."

Actually, that doesn't sound like an awful bill, given the tone of the Iran debate. I piled on Obama for saying "all options are on the table" with Iran in my "20 questions" article and then, of course, Mike Gravel did the same thing. But there's an obvious difference between a senator saying that and an acting president* saying it. Obama probably isn't a hawk; he just wants to make sure no one mistakes him for a dove.

*Is this confusing? The difference is that a senator isn't a head of state and lacks the power to actually nuke Iran, and nukes are what are implied when people discuss - but don't name - the stuff "on the table."

Comments

|5.21.07 @ 3:51PM|#

Why would anyone need the government's "assistance" in selling an investment?

|5.21.07 @ 3:51PM|#

I'm particular for Oblinton or Ritcherbamarama

|5.21.07 @ 3:56PM|#

"But there's an obvious difference between a senator saying that and an acting president saying it."

I don't get the difference.

And what's an acting president?

|5.21.07 @ 3:59PM|#

Martin Sheen.

Jonathan Hohensee|5.21.07 @ 4:06PM|#

Fred Thompson

|5.21.07 @ 4:06PM|#

Ronald Reagan

thoreau|5.21.07 @ 4:07PM|#

Dennis Haysbert.

VM|5.21.07 @ 4:08PM|#

PETER SELLERS

|5.21.07 @ 4:12PM|#

GEENA DAVIS

|5.21.07 @ 4:14PM|#

Michael Douglas

highnumber|5.21.07 @ 4:14PM|#

KEVIN KLINE

|5.21.07 @ 4:15PM|#

GENNA DAVIS

|5.21.07 @ 4:17PM|#

Dave was my favorite out of all of the Clinton-esque president movies of the 90's.

|5.21.07 @ 4:20PM|#

(The West Wing)>Dave>First Kid>Primary Colors>The American President>Wag the Dog

|5.21.07 @ 4:20PM|#

Anthony Hopkins

highnumber|5.21.07 @ 4:24PM|#

BARRY BOSTWICK

|5.21.07 @ 4:26PM|#

Was Chris Rock elected Pres in Head of State? I forget.

|5.21.07 @ 4:26PM|#

A**hole!

Dave Weigel|5.21.07 @ 4:27PM|#

Was Chris Rock elected Pres in Head of State? I forget.

Yes, and Bernie Mac was elected vice president.

highnumber|5.21.07 @ 4:27PM|#

ALAN ROSENBERG

|5.21.07 @ 4:28PM|#

Jack Warden.

|5.21.07 @ 4:31PM|#

What about Luke Wilson in Idiocracy?

highnumber|5.21.07 @ 4:31PM|#

Cab,
You win.

|5.21.07 @ 4:38PM|#

Luke Wilson wasn't president, former porn star and champion wrestler Camacho was.

VM|5.21.07 @ 4:38PM|#

What High# said. Well challenged, Old Bean!

|5.21.07 @ 4:46PM|#

Isn't obamaback on page 56 of the Kama Sutra?

VM|5.21.07 @ 4:50PM|#

*flips through.

oh my! mercy!

J.Hohensee - he's prez at the end

|5.21.07 @ 5:13PM|#

"The Iranian regime is the world's biggest state sponsor of terror"

Just curious, but how do you quantify that statement? Are there benchmarks? If so, I'd like to know why the country that reduced Iraq to rubble isn't competing for the Biggest State Terrorist trophy.

BobDobalina|5.21.07 @ 8:08PM|#

"The Iranian regime is the world's biggest state sponsor of terror"

Just curious, but how do you quantify that statement

You can't. The fact that even Reason Magazine let's Obama slide on all kinds of bullshit that the magazine would call Clinton, Edwards, McCain or Giuiliani on, just shows that the guilty white liberal strain in America runs deep ...

To wit, "Obama probably isn't a hawk; he just wants to make sure no one mistakes him for a dove."

Incinerated Iranian women and children will be able to die happily, knowing that they were nuked by a biracial dove, not a white male hawk. How wonderful!

So what Obama is saying is that Bush's war in Iraq is evil, but a war agasinst Iran started by The Magic Christian Negro (apologies to Starr and Sellers) is ideologically pure?

|5.21.07 @ 8:28PM|#

Okay, so she didn't get elected.
But it's a nice thought.

|5.21.07 @ 8:44PM|#

To get the Cuban vote, Barack should change his name to Guantanobama.

|5.21.07 @ 10:20PM|#

Your assumption (that nuking Iran is what's implied in the "table" argument) is wrong, and your conclusion (that it's a good strategy to say things are off the table) is wrong. Aside from that, good argument.

|5.22.07 @ 9:49AM|#

The State Department has listed Iran as the largest state sponsor of terror for decades, stemming mostly from their support for Hezbollah.

Easily looked up, Bobdobalina. As are quotes from white people - actual white people! - using the same language.

Take your whitebread persecution fantasies elsewhere.

|5.22.07 @ 9:52AM|#

From the race hustlers at Forbes magazine:

"As in previous years, the 2006 report identifies Iran as the "most active state sponsor" of terror, accusing the Islamic Republic of helping plan and foment attacks to destabilize Iraq and derail Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts."