The GOP isn't going to nail Obama on responding too slowly to events in Iran. He's responding as things are happening. There is no reason to get in front when things are going so well. This is James Baker/George H.W. Bush smart circa 1989. Let your enemies dig their own graves so long as they're ready and willing. No sense in grabbing anybody's shovels and declaring it all to be about America. Please, this is why we elected the guy. We wanted smart and cool and calculating and careful. Roger Cohen (NYT) reporting from Iran to Wolf Blitzer just now (23 June 2009): Obama couldn't be more popular among the protesters. So you know what? As much as I'd love to be proven wrong and have the regime drop tomorrow (I'm thinking months, not weeks), we play it smart to highlight issues as they emerge, letting the world judge and mobilize. We have such a self-negating history here, from the 1953 coup to the Iran-Iraq war to the "axis of evil" decisions by Bush, that we don't have the same easy entry we typically enjoy in such situations. So yeah. Tweak 'em, tweet 'em, promo it like crazy, letting the news cycle work it's maniacal magic. Iran is isolating itself through its actions. It don't get any better than this. And Obama's just humble enough and smart enough not to get in the way while things are going well. It's when things truly go bad that he'll be more usefully employed.