WarSclerotic

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama devoted two paragraphs of his speech before the UN Tuesday to Iran. The money quotes were “a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained,” and “the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

The speech was expected to deliver a sharp warning to Iran, and those words from Obama were more expansive and harsher than his comments on Iran last year at the same forum. In 2011, lumping Iran and North Korea together as countries that flout international demands concerning their nuclear program, he merely stated: “If they continue down a path that is outside international law, they must be met with greater pressure and isolation.”

The explicit rejection of containment and the threat that the US would “do what we must” to prevent a nucleararmed Iran was certainly a stronger American message on Iran.

But was it strong enough? Many of Obama’s critics didn’t think so.

“This was a Milquetoast statement on Iran by the US president, who projected a dangerous leading-frombehind mentality at a time when the Free World needs bold US leadership,” Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation wrote in a blog post.

“President Obama did not outline tougher measures to halt Iran’s nuclear program.”

Romney campaign adviser Dan Senor also dismissed his words for not breaking new ground on a festering problem.

“It’s a version of what he’s said before,” Mitt Romney told MSNBC. “It’s really nothing new.”

But many in the media – from Reuters to ABC – described Obama as providing “tough talk” on Iran.

Whether the words Obama uttered were tough or not, there were also words he didn’t utter.

He didn’t make any reference to military force, or even use the euphemism that “all options are on the table.”

He didn’t express any personal criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was to address the UN the day after Obama, but was already in New York making inflammatory statements to the media about Israel and the US. In contrast Romney – who was in New York to speak to the Clinton Globe Initiative – specifically called out Ahmadinejad’s remarks Tuesday.

“Not far from here, a voice of unspeakable evil and hatred has spoken out, threatening Israel and the civilized world,” Romney told the audience.

And Obama didn’t mention ultimatums or anything close to the red lines on what would trigger a US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Israel has been asking America to set out.

Obama did, however, say that while he felt there was still space for diplomacy, “Time is not unlimited.”

But he also didn’t answer the question of how much time is left on the clock.