In 1983, Ronald Reagan used a word to describe the Soviet Union that some of his advisors who wanted engagement with the Soviets wished he wouldn't use. It will anger the Soviet leaders, they said. It will make negotiations impossible.
But Reagan used the word anyway. He called the Soviet regime "evil."
And the impact of that word changed history.
"He could not have helped us better," Lech Walesa, the head of Poland's Solidarity movement, said later. "I don't think any missiles or any army could have been more effective."
President Obama finally spoke forcefully and eloquently about the aspirations of the Iranian people who are demonstrating in the streets of Iran today. His words, "Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history" were particularly meaningful.
Still, President Obama is standing by his policy of engagement with the Iranian theocrats.
Like the advisors to President Reagan, Obama wants to preserve the option of negotiations with Iran. A perfect example of this was the President's refusal in the press conference to address the issue of rescinding invitations to Iranian diplomats of the current Islamic regime to Fourth of July celebrations at U.S. embassies across the world.
But the President's policy of engagement with Iran is dead. The protestors in the streets of Iran killed it.
What's left is a tremendous opportunity - and a tremendous choice - for President Obama. He can use his great rhetorical skills and the resources of the American government to buttress the courage shown by the protestors in the Iranian streets, or he can use them to betray them...
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