Obama: ‘The Iranian People Can Speak for Themselves’
23 June 2009 12:38 pm by Taylor Marsh
UPDATE: Some member of the White House press corps have their egos in a bunch because Obama called on Pitney, out of usual sequences, but also with a little coordination on the question. Michael Calderone has written a peevish post about it. But in the update, Burton dismisses any notion that it was a set up to an easy question, which it clearly was not.
UPDATE: Deputy press secretary Bill Burton responds: “We did reach out to him prior to press conference to tell him that we had been paying attention to what he had been doing on Iran and there was a chance that he’d be called on. And, he ended up asking the toughest question that the President took on Iran. In the absence of an Iranian press corps in Washington, it was an innovative way to get a question directly from an Iranian.”
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“…But only I am the President of the United States.” – Barack Obama
Are you hearing him now, Mr. McCain? Any other question, Lindsay?
Did your critics inspire you today, Mr. President? “What do you think?” –insert laughter here–
Reading from notes, somewhat halting in his delivery until he got to the Q&A, Obama addressed the drama in Iran directly. As a response to the first question Obama said “obviously what has happened in Iran is profound.”
“The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost. I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering in Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness…” - President Barack Obama
To continue, what happened in Iran, Obama makes clear was “indigenous” and “happened organically.
Nico Pitney, whose liveblogging the “green wave” has been so important, was tapped second by Obama to ask a question. The President mentioned that across the Internet people are getting reports out of Iran, and “there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet.” Pitney had a question from an Iranian, who had responded to HuffPost’s query online. “Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad, and if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn’t that a betrayal of what the demonstrators are working towards?” Obama began by saying we didn’t have international monitors on the ground, continuing that spanning the Iranian society, people consider this election “illegitimate.”
Moments later he took on Major Garrett from Fox, who questioned why it took so long for Obama to speak forcefully, to which Obama clearly bristled. Then it was Chip Reed, Chuck Todd, invoking Neda, though not using her name, stating that “when a young woman is shot on the street that’s a problem.”
Last question, Suzanne Malveaux asked Obama if he’d seen the video of Neda’s murder. He had, his response, “heartbreaking,” with a nod of his head, emphasizing the tragedy.
