Bidding farewell to a life in columns
Washington Post / Jim Hoagland
02-Jan-2010

First a bit of advice (as if they did not get enough from a hectoring world) to Israeli leaders contemplating attacking Iran's nuclear program: Not now. The regime in Tehran uses an iron fist to confront the just anger and disgust it has provoked in Iran's population. The fanatics in power prefer to break rather than to bend. Let this revolt take its own course before you act.

My salvo to Barack Obama in the opening paragraph comes out of great respect and hope for his presidency. He can be a great leader if he stops paying so much attention to media-obsessed aides who mistake politics for policies and manipulation for statesmanship.

Obama's vacillating reactions to the now sustained protests in Tehran continue to be unsettling. He seems to respond not to the pace and magnitude of the protests themselves but to the amount of coverage they receive here and the potential they create for him to be criticized.

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