As violence that's shaken Iran since elections 10 days ago begins to taper off, and streets in the nation's major cities cool into uneasy quiet, perhaps some of the overheated rhetoric calling for the U.S. to do something - anything - more than we've done thus far may crust over, as well.

President Obama, like a timid "four-eyes" pushed into confronting a playground bully, has been surrounded by loudmouths assailing him for "not doing more" in the wake of this crisis. Today, he seemingly took the bait, issuing his strongest denunciation of Iranian violence so far:

"I strongly condemn these unjust actions...  We have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets," Obama said. "While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history."

Perhaps ominously, the Iran segment of the President's brief news conference topped Associated Press' early account, overshadowing hot-button domestic issues like healthcare (he's pushing Congress - and hopefully his own party - on this) and the economy (unsurprisingly, more needs to be done).

Much of the American news media, especially CNN, has pretty much signed over its coverage to the "Iran crisis" - on and on and on. To which, those of us more concerned with American unemployment and the errosion of faith in the future might ask:

"What crisis? It's not our crisis."

Iran is a world away and has roiled in "crisis" before. You want crisis? OK, check out, maybe, 1988 - when an estimated 30,000 political prisoners perished in upheaval that erupted as the Persian state's long war with Iraq wound down. Now... that's a crisis. Like any other Mideastern state, Iran has crises the way America used to have Worlds Fairs (before they got so expensive and hyper-insured).

In truth, it's only a crisis in the immediate neighborhood, but to the U.S., it's a crisis because Israel is in that same neighborhood; for years the MSM seems to have taken their news leads from neoconservatives very partial to that particular swatch of real estate. The wormy political estate hosting the neocon infestation has been buzzing with activity before and during Iran's election. They managed, shockingly, to be up-front and honest in their support for bad-guy Ahmadinejad in the run-up, since reinvestiture of this cockeyed zany would continue the "Iran=Axis of Evil" meme they'd established for the next target on their regime-change drawing boards. Then they fell all over themselves calling for official American condemnation of his "victory".

Neoconservatives have even crowed that street demonstrations breaking out since the June 14 election tally have validated their specious projections of the Iraq War prompting democracy to bust out all over the Mideast. 

Now, with Hezbollah having lost elections in Lebanon and with Iraq establishing the institutions of a young democracy, the fall of the Islamist dictatorship in Iran would have an electric and contagious effect. The exception - Iraq and Lebanon - becomes the rule. Democracy becomes the wave. Syria becomes isolated; Hezbollah and Hamas, patronless. The entire trajectory of the region is reversed.

'Course, that last one's coming from Charles Krauthammer, and I genuinely think he's lost in the darkness of his own private belfry. Nothing, apparently, can ever put the stake in these guys. If they did manage to launch another meaningless war, and it did grind to calamity just like Iraq, they'd still be hired by the country's biggest, once-reputable newspapers - to yammer on and on, into suspended publication and bankruptcy court. Amazing.

It's a strange tack, too, since genuine democratic elections in the Mideast have managed to install Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine, much to neocon chagrin. In a somehow-unsurprising development, some shaky websites are pinning a 1988 bombing that killed American Navy personnel to the the good-guy in this hoedown.

More sober heads have tracked the evolution of the election drama and see some suspicious, unfortunately familiar developments. If true, this indicates our country hasn't learned from all the heavy blowback that gobsmacked us the last time we tore asunder Iranian democracy, 56 years ago. Foreign Policy Journal takes a look at some developments and players in an article filed today, mentioning shadowy stalwarts like the National Endowment for Democracy, and even some amusing asides:

While much of what was being Twittered has since been confirmed, there has been no shortage of dubious information going around. The New York Times observed that "just as Twitter has helped get out first-hand reports from Tehran, it has also spread inaccurate information, perhaps even disinformation." Among the false information spread via Twitter and repeated by bloggers were: "That three millon protested in Tehran last weekend (more like a few hundred thousand); that the opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi was under house arrest (he was being watched); that the president of the election monitoring committee declared the election invalid last Saturday (not so)."

...The New York Times also observed that "Not only is it hard to be sure that what appears on Twitter is accurate, but some Twitterers may even be trying to trick you." An example cited is that of fabricated posts purporting to be from ABC News reporter Jim Sciutto.

Obama got it right the first time. It's a volatile emotional issue now, since the Iranian upheaval has a real, very tragic martyr. But that's no reason to start pushing anyone around. That's no reason for smack-talk. And most of America thinks so, even with the high drama and low-brow thinking. Regardless of the results of this election, or the final outcome of this umpteenth "crisis" - regardless even of Iran's nuclear ambition - we've had it. We've hit our wall. No more wars way, waaaay over there. Let someone else bomb them back to pre-Trinity.

Return to "No-Drama", Mr. Obama. What if they have a crisis and we don't show up? They'll give our dance card to someone else.

Not a bad thing. Good thing.