Seth, we’ve had numerous teachable moments just over the last 13 years, and all involving Iran killing Americans. The problem with the “forward march of freedom” contingent is that it overestimates the degree to which the hopes and aspirations of Iranians are going to move public opinion in America — especially an America that has spent a number of years disfavoring an Iraq war that it’s been told has been almost exclusively about the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people (at least since mid-2003).

The Iranian regime has to go because it’s a threat to the national security of the United States. That is the case that has to be made — as has always been the case. That this happens to jibe with the hopes and aspirations of Iranians (how many we don’t know, but hopefully most) is a very good thing. But those who think what’s being done to the Iranian people is going to sway American public opinion decisively (and force Obama’s hand) should prepare to be disappointed. The anti-American element is the dispositive one — and it’s the one Obama won’t acknowledge; if that doesn’t get turned around, this is a lost cause.