Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei’s response to President Barack Obama has me howling with laughter; though, admittedly, mine is a dark kind of humor.

“Give me a chance to talk to him, face to face. I know – I just know – we could work things out.” I lifted the above from page one of the “Nave Liberal’s Handbook on Foreign Policy.” The president should realize that others before him, Democrats and Republicans alike, tried and failed. That is why so many people disagreed with him on that.

As bad as recent news has been for the president – the AIG bonuses, the Special Olympics gaffe, a stunning 5 percent devaluation of the dollar in anticipation of the Fed monetizing the stimulus debt and analyses that the administration’s deficit projections are severely understated – the worst bit of news has to be Iran’s response to the president’s overtures. That little slap in the face, as unimportant as it is to me (who has nothing but contempt for Khamenei in the first place), was the biggest splash of cold water to hit Obama in quite some time.

Perhaps that event could help the economy, more than anything else, if it succeeds in getting the point through to Obama that, despite his rock ‘n’ roll status and legions of adoring fans, maybe he really doesn’t have all the answers, after all; and maybe it would pay to do a little more listening. Or, God forbid, move to the center.

Peter Robinson, Lewiston