Obama's First At Bat Against Iran: Strike Out

Well, big surprise. Remember all that "hope" the American people had that Barack Obama was gonna fix the world? Remember how Obama promised to "change the world?" Remember how the world would love the U.S. again under an Obama administration? Well, apparently the folks running Iran failed to get the memo. Speaking in baseball terms, Obama on Sunday was in the batter's box with a brand new bat of incentives and tough talk and the Iranians, soon after, dusted him off with a fastball thrown at his head. Here's some of the details from Breitbart:

Iran on Monday rejected a proposal by President-elect Barack Obama that a combination of economic incentives and tighter sanctions might persuade the Iranian government to change its behavior.
Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday that the international community could develop a set of incentives that would persuade Iran to alter its nuclear program. The U.S. and many of its allies suspect that Iran wants to develop weapons through its nuclear program, but Tehran says it is focused on power generation.
"You know, in terms of carrots, I think that we can provide economic incentives that would be helpful to a country that, despite being a net oil producer, is under enormous strain, huge inflation, a lot of unemployment problems there," said Obama.
But Iran has rejected past offers of economic incentives by the international community in exchange for scaling back its nuclear activities, a sentiment echoed Monday by Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi.
"The carrot-and-stick policy has no benefit," Qashqavi told reporters during his weekly press briefing. "It is unacceptable and failed."

So there you have it. The American people actually though this guy would fix Iran. Elect Obama and the Iranians would throw their nuclear program into the Indian Ocean and beg forgiveness from The One...wasn't that the scenario that Axelrod laid out for all of us in return for our vote? Oh well, now we will have Iran with nuclear weapons and a President who has no Plan B.

Iran rejects Obama's 'carrot-and-stick' proposal

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Monday rejected a proposal by President-elect Barack Obama that a combination of economic incentives and tighter sanctions might persuade the Iranian government to change its behavior.
Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday that the international community could develop a set of incentives that would persuade Iran to alter its nuclear program. The U.S. and many of its allies suspect that Iran wants to develop weapons through its nuclear program, but Tehran says it is focused on power generation.
"You know, in terms of carrots, I think that we can provide economic incentives that would be helpful to a country that, despite being a net oil producer, is under enormous strain, huge inflation, a lot of unemployment problems there," said Obama.
But Iran has rejected past offers of economic incentives by the international community in exchange for scaling back its nuclear activities, a sentiment echoed Monday by Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi.
"The carrot-and-stick policy has no benefit," Qashqavi told reporters during his weekly press briefing. "It is unacceptable and failed."
Qashqavi reiterated Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment Monday and said the U.S. must recognize Iran's "nuclear right" before the country would dispel concerns about its program.
Obama also said that the U.S. should ratchet up direct diplomacy as a way to induce Iran to alter course on its nuclear program and cease support for militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Iranian government has expressed interest in more direct talks with the U.S. but has consistently refused to alter its nuclear program as a precondition.