US weakening

After his election as President, Sen. Obama declared:

"I think we've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular," Obama said Tuesday, promising an "unrelenting" desire to "create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of goodwill who want their citizens and ours to prosper together."

The world, he said, "is ready for that message."

Israel News reports that Iran is interpreting Pres. Obama's recent overtures in a predictable fashion:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, on Friday that Israel and the US were "weakening with God's help".

If a country acts weak, it's enemies think that it is weak. Pres. Carter's attempts to gain the release of the hostages from Iran proved this. Will the new US administration continue to repeat Jimmy Carter's mistakes?