Here's an interesting piece of information.
Apparently Prsident Obama intended to publicly pronounce on Friday, the written statement that was released on Saturday.
So, it seems like I have less to criticize him for than I previously thought.
I wonder if those who applauded the reserve shown by a written vs oral statement now consider they have less to praise him for than they previously thought? 
Obama: Iran 'Wants to Open Up'
CBS response: Huh? Did someone say something?
By JAMES TARANTO
By now you probably know that President Obama on Saturday finally put out a clear statement supporting the antiregime protesters in Iran, as we and many others spent much of last week urging.
What you may not know is that the president actually changed his tune on Friday--and not just in a written statement but in a TV interview. The comments did not air on Friday, however, apparently because flatfooted journalists at CBS failed to realize their significance.
Here's the pertinent portion from the transcript of Harry Smith's interview with the president:
Smith: Let's move on to news of the day. The Ayatollah Khamenei gave his--speech today and gave his sermon. He said that the election in Iran was, in fact, legitimate. He said, quote/unquote, "the street--street demonstrations are unacceptable." Do you have a message for those people in the street?
Obama: I absolutely do. Well, first of all, let's understand that this notion that somehow these hundreds of thousands of people who are pouring into the streets in Iran are somehow responding to the West or the United States. that's an old distraction that I think has been trotted out periodically. And that's just not gonna fly.
What you're seeing in Iran are hundreds of thousands of people who believe their voices were not heard and who are peacefully protesting and--and seeking justice. And the world is watching. And we stand behind those who are seeking justice in a peaceful way. And, you know, already we've seen violence out there. I think I've said this throughout the week. I want to repeat it that we stand with those who would look to peaceful resolution of conflict, and we believe that the voices of people have to be heard, that that's a universal value that the American people stand for and this administration stands for.
And I'm very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is--and is not.
But the last point I want to make on this--this is not an issue of the United States or the West versus Iran. This is an issue of the Iranian people. The fact that they are on the streets under pretty severe duress, at great risk to themselves, is a sign that there's something in that society that wants to open up.
As HotAir.com's "Allahpundit" notes, however,
the two paragraphs we've put in bold above were cut from the interview excerpts aired on the "CBS Evening News." Thus Katie Couric's viewers did not hear the president say publicly for the first time that "we stand behind those who are seeking justice in a peaceful way" and that "there's something in that society that wants to open up."
They heard, instead, the familiar refrains: "We respect Iran's sovereignty," and, "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States."
Somehow CBS found this week-old mush more newsworthy than Obama's first clear statement of support for the Iranians.
The White House appears to have wanted to make news with Obama's new toughness. The "CBS Evening News" airs at 6:30 ET, and the interview excerpts led Friday's broadcast. At 6:48--after the segment had aired but before the broadcast was complete--the White House blog posted the full exchange under the title "The President on Iran: 'The World Is Watching.' "
This does not seem to have drawn much notice--who knew the White House had a blog?--and on Saturday the White House press secretary's office issued the written statement reiterating the points that had ended up on CBS's cutting room floor:
Quote:The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said--"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' [sic] belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
This was widely reported. Obama got his message out, albeit a day late. But CBS could have reported it on Friday, and it would have had a big scoop. How could the network have missed it?
Taranto offers his thoughts on why which contain a hilarious reference to the hard nosed reporting of CBS White House correspondent John Knoller and his resemblance to "American journalism's crazy old aunt in the attic."
If you're interested check out
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB124568712609137571.html
