Who Said It: Bush or Obama?

With Super Tuesday in full swing, the Republican presidential candidates are once again distancing themselves from Barack Obama's approach to Iran's nuclear program, which the U.S. president outlined in an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Sunday, March 4. Rick Santorum has accused Obama of "appeasement" and turning "his back on the people of Israel," while Mitt Romney has promised to confront the "thugs and tyrants" in Iran with "our resolve, backed by our power and our readiness to use it." But, as the New York Times noted on Tuesday, the muscular rhetoric obscures the many similarities between the policies espoused by Obama and his Republican rivals.

Conventional wisdom holds that Obama couldn't be more different from his predecessor when it comes to Iran. George W. Bush wouldn't negotiate with Iran until it suspended its uranium-enrichment process. Obama initially talked about dropping the precondition, though he later compromised on the issue. Bush marveled that "some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." Obama vowed to extend a hand "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist." Bush once observed that after decades of sanctions against Iran, "We're out of sanctions." Obama has staked his Iran strategy on his ability to build international consensus around tougher economic sanctions to put a "world of hurt" on Iranian leaders.

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Supreme Leader or GOP?

Obama has played up these differences. "When I took office, the efforts to apply pressure on Iran were in tatters," Obama informed AIPAC on March 4. "Iran had gone from zero centrifuges spinning to thousands, without facing broad pushback from the world. In the region, Iran was ascendant -- increasingly popular and extending its reach. In other words, the Iranian leadership was united and on the move, and the international community was divided about how to go forward."

But the chasm, in terms of rhetoric and strategy, may not be as wide as you think. For evidence, we invite you to play Foreign Policy's favorite new game -- Who said it: Bush or Obama?

1. "I have always said that all options are on table, but the first option for the United States is to solve this problem diplomatically. That is why we've been pursuing multilateral diplomacy."

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JALMOS

5:02 PM ET

March 6, 2012

Not that tough to distinguish

Not that tough to distinguish the two - though I did get fooled twice.

The difference between the two is well highlighted by panels 3 and 11. Bush almost always carried more of a 'straight man' voice.

THEPALADIN

9:05 PM ET

and I only got them right twice

that was embarrassing!

WICKBAM

11:15 PM ET

hahaha

Yeah I had no clue in distinguishing them

STRIVER

8:06 AM ET

March 7, 2012

Is Bush

about to give Obama and big intimate kiss on the lips?
Obama is certainly expecting something they he is looking at Bush.

REALREALIST

10:02 AM ET

obama is driving the ME into chaos and it will be his legacy

people who follow obama and his media minions blindly, are in for a rude awakening soon. The ME under his watch is going in the worst possible direction.

How he wont do a thing about syria tells you just what a feckless moronic president this cat is....oh sure, leading from behind in libya was the new fetish....and now look at how that policy is working for the people in syria who are being slaughtered day after day....

israel defends itself in cast lead and a few hundred so called civilians are killed in collateral damage caused by hamas and the whole world goes nuts, and in syria, the govt is SLAUGHTERING its own people with close to 10,000 people dead! and obama , the UN, the HRC, the quartet, the EU are saying what?

I mean, where are the global calls for richard goldstone to come out of retirement??????

HYPOCRISY!!!

SOCALMAVERICK

4:54 PM ET

Justifying the theft of Palestine with BS & propaganda

fakerealist so stop crying foul .
some of you clowns remind me of the Nazi's. they put out propaganda and they start believing it themselves.
israel is nothing but a fascist racist abominable cult that ethnically cleansed a land of its people. whatever the Palestinian do to get to resist is their right.
the Palestinians are in the same position as the Syrian people; yearning for their freedom

10:13 PM ET

nono socal....that land is jewish and your beloved UN made it so

1948....israel became legit ONCE MORE in its ancestral homeland. The so called palestinians were from greater arabia....if anything, the pals stole the land which israel fairly won back...and in case you really are totally ignorant, the UN offered BOTH sides land equally in what was called the partition plan of 1947...

add to that, the PLO, a violent terrorist group was established in 1964....do you know the significance of that date socal?

hmmmmmm....I bet you dont know....or, you won't discuss that....

see ya later bobo pigeon brain

1:02 PM ET

Difference? One sounded good, the other was actually good

One is moral, the other is amoral. One is straight talking, the other is cunning and coy.

you decide.

THUSALWAYSTOGENIUS

7:53 PM ET

Mardi Gras: Super “Fat” Tuesday

On Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”), Christians would eat rich fatty foods before the beginning of Lent season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a reminder of one’s religion obligations, mainly penitence. Hence, the reason why traditional Christians refer to Mardis Gras as “Shrove Tuesday”. This period of abstinence lasts 47 days, until Easter Sunday, which represents the Christ’s resurrection.

The agnostics tend to take part of popular practices associated with celebrations, which includes dancing, wearing masks and costumes and participating in parades.

Speaking of celebrations, I still remember 2009 as it was yesterday, when President Barack Obama assumed office. The spirit of the American people resurrected with hope and optimism in dark times as if they were witnessing the second coming of Christ: “Yes, We Can”. Four years passed by and it is a whole new day filled with the same old …

Things got better? Not sure. Things got worse? Not sure either. All we know is that most of us are left feeling torn between sustaining hope in the Obama administration and just giving up on the whole political system. The rest of us might just be in plain old denial; still wearing our now faded and washed out “Obama for President” t-shirt that now reads “bama side”. Yes, as in “by my side”. That’s right, every step of the way, that is where we were: by his side. Lately, I am no longer sure where I now stand.

This dilemma is familiar to believers of any religion as we tend to be torn between our holy scriptures and the actual existence of any divine being. As we wait for the Second Advent of Jesus of Nazareth, which could coincide with the presidential election in the United States, provided that Obama wins, we wear our rosaries around our necks and keep our bibles close by.

We will patiently wait 245 days for Tuesday November 6, 2012, to come around. Obama of Honolulu could rise again. But rise from where? Rise towards where? … Not sure either.

As the idealists debate with the pragmatists, let’s pause for a moment and pay attention to what currently matters. Who will win the primary election on this Super Tuesday?

Super Tuesday has been taking place for almost four decades. It refers to a Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year, when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions, at which each party’s presidential candidates are officially nominated. These candidates seeking the presidency must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination.

This year, these republicans; Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, campaign and preach to get as close as they can to the Promise Land.

As election season begins, let’s allow them to put their masks on, and off, before initiating their pseudo penitence, while awaiting their canonization.

While we are left under the impression that we are taking actual sides, voting for one party over another, believing in certain promises and shutting down other ideologies, we fail to remember the essence of belief. There is only one fundamental core, sedentary in Washington, which embodies all: Republican or Democrat; aristocrat or working class, Black or White, Catholic or Protestant … Evil or Good. Same difference.

The Devil is after all considered to be an angel who was condemned to the Lake of Fire after rebelling against God.

How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down
to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

- Isaiah 14:12 (Holy Bible, King James Version)

“Yes We Can! ”

- Barack Hussein Obama II

Foreign Policy Magazine

Inside National Security

When it comes to their rhetoric on Iran, there's less distance between the cowboy and the community organizer than you might think.

BY URI FRIEDMAN | MARCH 6, 2012

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