As seen in his first State of the Union address,Obama knows his actions are judged through an historic prism. In putting the passing year in context, the president drifted to the days of Bull Run at the outset of the American Civil War, the landing at Omaha Beach in WWII, the Black Tuesday market crash in 1929, and the 1965 beating of marchers on Bloody Sunday. Still, he declared that 2009 was “one of the most difficult years in American history.”
Obama’s speech focused on the economy and what was done on “his watch” to mitigate the financial follies of his predecessors. He talked about the unpleasant yet unavoidable bank bailouts that prevented “a meltdown of the financial system”, he proudly pointed out the tax cuts “for 95% of working families” and how his administration saved two million jobs in America. Even as one in 10 Americans still cannot find work. He talked about clean energy and the need to export more American goods. The president was even able to skillfully sidestep the debt and deficit issues that threaten to bring an American economic decline.
President Obama acknowledged some of his first year fumbles and was even apologetic about his inability to promptly bring the desired change that was promised in his campaign. During his first year in office, he discovered that a “democracy in a nation of three hundred million people can be noisy and messy and complicated”, but reaffirmed that the promised change will come.
Many historians have argued that “the rise and fall of great world powers” stems from their economic strength or weakness more than anything else. But great leaders are also remembered for their leadership in time of crisis. Roosevelt is remembered for his role in bringing the Nazis to their knees by forcing an “unconditional surrender” as he convinced America it had “nothing to fear but fear itself”. Kennedy is known for his ability to restrain Russia and prevent a nuclear crisis, and Reagan will forever be remembered as the great communicator who put an end to the Cold War and commenced America’s hegemony as the world’s sole super power.
Preventing nuclear Iran
Today, the world is once again in crisis. America’s “Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security”, worthy though those issues may be, are not the source of that crisis. The threat of a nuclear Iran is. The Iranian regime under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s unrelenting rush for nuclear power, backed by its apocalyptic theology and unequivocal determination to destroy the West, is the imminent threat that towers above all others.
Iran is the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Its cooperation with Hezbollah and other proxies against the West goes as far back as 1983 with attacks against American and French peace keepers in Lebanon through the 1996 bombing of the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia and 2008 insurgencies against American troops and American interests in Iraq. This cooperation continues today. Equipped with nuclear capability, the affiliation between Iran and terror organizations could denote much more than a minor clash between civilizations.
Like Obama, the Iranian president sees his actions through the prism of history. During Iran’s “World without Zionism” conference, he told his audience that “We are in the process of an historical war between the ‘world of arrogance’ and the Islamic world, and this war has been going on for hundreds of years…. Israel must be wiped off the map... and God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism... Very soon, this stain of disgrace will vanish from the center of the Islamic world - this is attainable”.
Preventing a nuclear Iran is The issue of Barack Obama’s time. No mistake should be made about the responsibility that lies on this president’s shoulders. He should not be misled to think that a nuclear Iranis inevitable due to his predecessor’s lack of action or operational misjudgment. History will not buy that. The Iranian crisis is Barack Obama’s crisis and it has little to do with the economy.
Were the Iranian regime to fall, Obama's place in history would be secured. He would be remembered for much more than economic reform or being the first black man elected president in the land of the free. However, if Iran, fueled by fundamental Islamic zeal, obtains nuclear capability on “Obama’s watch” – his presidency will live in infamy.