Robert Gibbs Retracts Calling Ahmadinejad Iran’s ‘Elected Leader’
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who earlier this week called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the “elected leader” of Iran, was forced to correct his statement, saying that he did not mean to insinuate that the election in Iran was legitimate and fair.
On Tuesday, Gibbs was asked in his daily press briefing if the United States recognizes Ahmadinejad’s reelection, and if not sending a representative to the presidential inauguration meant the U.S. does not consider him the elected leader.
Gibbs at first avoided the questions by re-stating that “we have said throughout this that this was a decision and a debate that was ongoing in Iran by Iranians. That they were going to choose their leadership.” He added that President Obama “has discussed our goals for reaching out in order to ensure that they don’t develop a nuclear weapons program.”
Reporters persisted about the legitimacy issue, with one asking Gibbs directly: “But does the administration recognize Ahmadinejad as the legitimate president in Iran?”
At this point, Gibbs made a major error, responding: “He’s the elected leader.”
By using that term, Gibbs was single-handedly changing U.S. foreign policy by legitimizing the disputed election.
Gibbs was forced to correct himself Wednesday. Aboard Air Force One, he told reporters that he wanted to “correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr. Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say it’s not for me to pass judgment on.”
Gibbs added, “He’s been inaugurated, that’s a fact. Whether any election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that and we’ll let them decide that. But I would simply say he’s been inaugurated and we know that is simply a fact.”
Responding to further questions on whether the U.S. recognizes Ahmadinejad as the leader of Iran, Gibbs said, “It’s not for me or for us to denote his legitimacy, except to acknowledge the fact.”
Diplomacy is such a subtle art that government spokesmen parse their words extremely carefully on foreign policy issues. Even one word that gives the impression of altering established policies can cause an international uproar.
When I worked at the State Department, the press secretaries from the White House, Pentagon and State Department held a conference call every morning to coordinate their message on the issues of the day. I don’t know if they continue to do this in the Obama administration, but if was an effective way to ensure that they all spoke to the media using the same words — no more, no less.
So it is rare for a White House press secretary to make such a big mistake. Gibbs — seeing the impact of his comment — is probably going to speak even slower and more carefully that he already does.
