President Obama is continuing plans to have Iranian diplomats — representatives of a regime that continues to imprison and kill peaceful protestors — celebrate July 4th, a holiday marking liberty and freedom, at U.S. embassies around the world.

What’s next?

Inviting North Korean officials to share cake at a celebration commemorating the Non-Proliferation Treaty? Perhaps inviting the Taliban to a festival celebrating International Women’s Day? Maybe we can even invite Zimbabwe to party with the Department of Agriculture, or have Libyan diplomats as guests of honor at a commemoration of human rights?

The White House and the State Department seem completely blind to the optics of this, something strange given the president’s campaigning acumen. It is also a dagger in the heart of the imagery of hope and change which the Obama White House hopes to convey. President Obama, there’s always next year. This is not neutrality; it is diplomatic malpractice and an insult to the Iranian people who are watching you so intently right now.