ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton's stunning statement yesterday that there are no hard and fast deadlines with Iran, a complete contradiction of stated American policy, has won applause from one source:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran said Tuesday it welcomes Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's comments that there is no hard-and-fast deadline for starting nuclear dialogue.

On Monday, Clinton said the Obama administration remained open to negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, though it will move toward tougher sanctions if Iran does not respond positively. She stressed there was no hard-and-fast deadline for Iran.

Responding Tuesday, Iran's foreign ministry welcomed the comments

''We share the same idea with her. Deadlines are meaningless. We hope other countries return to their natural path, too,'' said Ramin Mehmanparast, a foreign ministry spokesman.

The remarks were a rare positive response by the Iranians to U.S. comments on its nuclear program.

Well of course they were.  We've basically just done a Neville Chamberlain.  The deadline, widely advertised, had been December 31st.  Now that's been cancelled, as earlier deadlines had been.

The sound you hear is the laughter from the mullahs of Iran.  The other sound you hear is the hissing from Iran's democracy demonstrators. 

We had hoped that the president would come back from Hawaii chastened by the backlash against his lax security policies.  Instead, the administration seems to be reaffirming the leftist pattern of its first ten months, including the absurd decision to immediately turn the airline bomber over to the civilian court system, allowing him to lawyer up and shut up.

There is a theory circulating that Obama knows the Dems will lose seats in the midterm elections, now ten months away, and that he wants to get as many leftist policies in place as he can before then.  Makes sense, but no one, of course, is confirming that plan openly.

January 5,  2010