Coat Un-Coat

Everyone is talking about him. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He evokes such strong emotions in everyone. I was talking to someone the other day about the introduction given for him by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger. I thought his comments were cowardly and rude. If you don't want the guy talking to your staff and students don't invite him! If you invite him because you believe in Freedom of Speech say so! I could see Bollinger saying, "I don't agree with him, but I agree with our priciples of freedom of speech and so we've given him this forum where we will listen, but we will also ask pointed questions."

Instead Bollinger wanted it both ways. He wanted to appease the critics who were calling for contributors to close their wallets for the University. So we get comments like these in his introduction, "You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated!" If he's astonishingly uneducated why is he addressing such scholarly types like the folks at Columbia? If he is astonishingly uneducated what does that make Bollinger since he invited him? Give me a break! It seems like he's another coward running a prestigious University. His actions really irritated me because I recently finished reading, "It's Not About the Truth" which rips Duke University President Richard Brodhead. Brodhead comes off as a total whimp who puts his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. So what are the college students learning from these guys? I think it's pretty simple. Don't be a person of principle, bow to pressure, straddle the fence as much as possible. If the choice is to do the right thing or the expedient thing, always chose the path of least resistance. Those are pretty valuable traits for students heading out into the real world. Instead of important ideals, they'll become ideal candidates to run the next Enron.

But maybe I should get to the point of the headline now. What on earth is Coat-Un-Coat?I'm probably the only person on the planet who can make this claim. I was driving in to work the other day and I listened to his Columbia University speech for a half hour on CSPAN radio beginning at 3:30 am. I know, I know, I need to get a life. I was reminded of this because of a script I had to read this morning in the 6am hour. This is how it read:

"Ending his controversial visit to the United States, Iran's president says the nuclear issue over his country is--quote--closed."

That brings me to my biggest beef about Ahmadinjejad the guy can't speak for himself. Every few seconds he's either quoting someone or something. And that's why the headline reads "Coat Un-Coat." I don't know who hires the interpreter when a foreign head of state comes to our country. Is it someone from the State Department? Or does the big guy from Iran bring his own person? Whoever it was she had an uncanny ability say "Coat-Un-Coat!" At first it was funny, but then after he quoted a litany of scripture readings I was ready to rip my hair out. Coat-Un-Coat, Coat-Un-Coat, Coat-Un-Coat....UGGH!!! Of course the one thing he said that elicited the biggest laugh came from his own mouth when he said that there are no Homosexuals in Iran. I guess you can safely say they are tucked away in the closet with all those Coats-Un-Coats!