Absurd Hypotheticals

Jim Hoagland presents a hypothetical scenario worthy of William Kristol or Michael Gerson.

Would Iran welcome a newly elected President Obama with a nuclear enrichment freeze or - more likely - by testing him by moving identifiable Iranian militia units into Basra province on a large scale, as some Persian Gulf Arab states may fear?

Not only is the scenario hypothetical, but it's premised upon the hypothetical fears of unnamed Arab states?

If you have an IQ above room temperature, you already know that any U.S. President faced with the movement of "identifiable Iranian militia units" into Iraq will respond with swift, decisive military action. Hoagland's IQ is above room temperature, so what's his agenda? Is it perhaps highlighted by this obsequious hypothetical about McCain?

Or if it is President McCain, will the ayatollahs show something like the Reagan reflex? After all, they greeted the election of a conservative hard-liner in 1980 by releasing U.S. hostages.

Sure. They think G.W. Bush is a real softy, and they're terrified that once elected McCain will... invade Iraq, or something.