There is an old saying, "When opportunity knocks, answer the door." Unfortunately, our friends in Iran had a golden opportunity knock on their door, but instead of answering the door, they complained of the noise. Specifically ten U.S. sailors had their disabled boat drift into Iranian waters (at least that's the story we get). Iran could have taken this opportunity to show the world a compassionate Iran by making the incident a rescue and assist mission. Instead, they filmed U.S. sailors with their hands over their heads as the Iranian Guard boarded the boat. Later they would show this film along with a U.S. sailor explaining how they "drifted" into Iranian waters on the state television shows. In other words, they showed how bad the U.S. is to their people and how the Iranian Guard captured the intruders.
While the Pentagon scrambled to get the story out and take appropriate actions to get the sailors back, President Obama stuck to his planned State of the Union address. In this address he talked about how the Iranian agreement has halted Iran from getting nuclear weapons. He also talked about how we have prevented another war - although nobody is really sure what war he is talking about- and how the world worked together to develop the deal with Iran. The President made no mention that the Iranian Guard took U.S. sailors at gun point, posted their pictures as captives on the state-run news station, and filmed one of them basically confessing to crossing into Iranian waters. Those listening to the President's speech after watching the news must have been left wondering if Obama missed the latest briefing.
In truth, it's highly unlikely the President missed a briefing. It's more likely that he knows even more than we do in the general public about the incident. The fact is, the incident did not fit neatly into Obama's view of the world. The President views the world as a place where Iran will never get the bomb because of the treaty, and a world where some unknown war has been prevented because of the Administration's fabulous work in Iran. The facts just don't fit into his ideology.
The point is Iran has been hostile against the United States since the Carter Administration. It is likely no coincidence that the hostages held in Iran were released shortly after President Reagan was sworn into office. Each President since Carter has had to deal with Iran, and not in a positive way. Iran has burned U.S. flags in the streets, taken our citizens captive, sworn to destroy our ally Israel, allowed and promoted "Death to America" chants, worked toward a nuclear capability, and now taken ten U.S. sailors on a small disabled boat hostage before releasing them. These are not the actions of a country that deserves to be praised for a Nuclear Treaty - well, unless we are wanting to praise the treaty just to praise the Obama Administration. The fact is, Obama has missed the point of his job as President. He is to protect Americans and uphold the U.S. Constitution (we won't even go there) and he has continued to fail time-and-time again. It's fine if he wants to talk positively about his treaty - a treaty that many in the U.S. and around the world feels is a failure- but to give a State of the Union address without even mentioning the ten sailors was a huge missed opportunity. At the least, the President could have mentioned them and asked for prayers for their safe return as the military worked to bring them back, but he did not. Once again, the President misses a key point. Instead of building up Americans and supporting the country that elected him, he allowed our enemies to look good. Both the Iranians and the President had an opportunity knocking on the door and they both ignored it.
