Why has the president behaved so accommodatingly towards Ahmadinejad and Qaddafi and so ruthlessly towards Mubarak? Because Bloody repression is acceptable by oil rich countries while bloody repression by oil poor countries is not. In other words, Obama is merely being pragmatic, argue administration mouth pieces, Mark Landler and Helene Cooper of the NYT:

With the spread of antigovernment protests from North Africa to the strategic, oil-rich Persian Gulf, President Obama has adopted a policy of restraint. He has concluded that his administration must shape its response country by country, aides say, recognizing a stark reality that American national security interests weigh as heavily as idealistic impulses. That explains why Mr. Obama has dialed down the vocal support he gave demonstrators in Cairo to a more modulated call for peaceful protest and respect for universal rights elsewhere.

No, he is not. His sickeningly immoral stance does not only give a card blanche to America hating tyrants to kill their own people but it severely damages America's soft power. Yes, that soft power liberals argued George Bush depleted and Barack Obama would replenish. Far from cherishing America's good name, he wishes it would not have it. -

Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it,"No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square."

In 2009, Iranians asked"Obama are you with us or against us?" In Tripoli they no longer bother asking. They know the answer would merely encourage their oppressors while demoralizing their supporters, both foreign and domestic. Indeed, the Obama message to tyrants seems to be: Do not hesitate. Repress as quickly and bloodily as you can.

Just as horrifyingly, Barack Obama is doing is level best to insure that the United States continue to depend on bloody oil rich tyrants by doing his utmost to block current efforts to increase domestic energy production.

The man is a menace. I feared that his election would result in depression and war. We are in the midst of a depression and the current upheavals seem to point to war. The next presidential election cannot come too soon.