I must admit that I’m torn about this statement. Obviously, I disagree with the Governor’s criticism of the President’s foreign policy. In this regard, he and the dozens of other Republicans looking to score political points against Barack Obama are beginning to look like Nancy Pelosi, who went out of her way to undermine and subvert the foreign policy of President Bush when he was in office. At the same time, I’m glad the Governor is finally getting involved a little more in foreign policy – I just wish he had thought this through a little bit more before criticizing our President before the international community.

What Governor Huckabee and Lindsey Graham fail to recognize is that what’s true of Iran is also true of the United States. In the video above, Governor Huckabee explains that while the government of Iran may disdain the United States, the Iranian people have a higher regard for us than their government, media, and some Muslim-hating evangelical Americans would have you believe. While Governor Huckabee wants us to make the distinction between the Iranian Government and the Iranian People – he is under the false assumption that the Iranian People are unable to make a distinction between the American Government and the American People; or worse, that Huckabee believes that there is no distinction between the two.

The United States Government has a really, REALLY bad reputation in the Middle East and it most certainly is NOT because the government has remained indifferent in the domestic affairs of foreign countries. In fact, the direct opposite is true – they disapprove of our government because our government has been wrongly meddling in domestic politics of foreign countries for decades and we have consistently screwed over the people we’ve fancied ourselves as trying to help.

Gee, does that sound familiar? It should! In domestic politics, conservatives often criticize Democrats for using the US Government to meddle in the affairs of ordinary Americans and that “Help From The Government” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Well, the highly educated people of Iran understand this centerpiece of the Republican Party’s platform a lot better than most Republicans.

If President Obama becomes involved in this, the protests will cease to be a 21st Century revolution of the Iranian People and will quickly become a ploy of the United States Government to screw the Iranian people yet again. After all, it was the United States Government who demanded that the pro-democracy Shah of Iran step down and hand power over to the radical Ayatollah Khomeini. By meddling, even with the best of intentions, the US Government will yet again do a lot more harm than good.

What Governor Huckabee SHOULD have done was wear a green tie, express his support for the Iranian people as a citizen of the United States, and tell his supporters (including myself) that every little bit we can do to support the Iranian People as a population would be a victory for democratic principles, civil liberties, and personal freedoms not just in the streets of Tehran; but here in the United States and around the globe.

I’m still a supporter of Governor Huckabee, but I’d feel cheap if I backed down because of this statement. I legitimately think the Governor is horribly and fundamentally wrong on this topic and I believe that intellectual honesty is a lot more important (and a lot more lacking) in our culture than political loyalty.