The Obama Report

From VOA News:

The health of U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, condemned to eight years in prison by Iran for allegedly spying for the United States, is deteriorating, according to her father. He says she has been on a hunger strike since last week...

Saberi says his daughter is so weak from the hunger strike she began last Tuesday that she can "hardly stand up."...

Jean-Francois Julliard, of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, says both journalists and the world community need to put pressure on Iran to release Roxana: "We should put more pressure on Iranian authorities, because she is really in danger. She is in a very bad health and she cannot pursue her hunger strike for many days," said Julliard. "So, we have to do something from Europe, from [the] United States, from everywhere to ensure that she is released soon."

I wonder what kind of approval rating Roxana and the two American journalists, who are being detained by North Korea, would give the president: Excellent? Stellar? Or Maginificent? Hmmm?

The North Koreans would probably rate the president's job performance as excellent. They reportedly are in the midst of reprocessing nuclear fuel rods. Reprocessing nuclear fuel rods is a necessary step in building radioactive material used in nuclear weapons. Obama doesn't seem to be challenging them on this issue, so, they've got to be satisfied with his job performance.

Ironically, Obama recently stated about Saberi:

“She is an American citizen, and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage.”

It seems somewhat bizarre that Obama would need to express "confidence" that Saberi was not engaged in espionage, rather than coming out openly and stating unequivocally that she is not a spy and that she is being detained on trumped up charges. Obama, after all, is the President, and he has full access to this kind of classified information. He knows darn well that Saberi was not spying on Iran. Is Obama fearful of offending and contradicting the Iranians with such unequivocal statements? Is he concerned that openly challenging the Iranians, belittling their allegations against Saberi and mocking their justice system would hinder his so called peace overtures to Iran?

Sure seems like it. As a matter of fact, I have "complete confidence" that this is indeed the case. But of course, there's a big difference between having "complete confidence" and knowing for certain that my conjecture is correct. So, I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was merely misspeaking.

And while I'm at it, I think I'll give the Iranians the benefit of the doubt with regards to Saberi too. For while I may be confident of her innocence, can I really be certain of her innocence? After all, I am not the president of the United States, and only the president and the CIA [and perhaps Obama's Iranian allies] who have access to this kind of classified information can be absolutely certain she's not a spy. Ahem........