Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the fraudulent Iranian elections, which led to a popular uprising against the regime that was brutally put down. In today’s Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami offers this scorching indictment:

There is no guarantee that categorical American support would have altered the outcome of the struggle between autocracy and liberty in Iran. But it shall now be part of the narrative of liberty that when Persia rose in the summer of 2009 the steward of American power ducked for cover, and that a president who prided himself on his eloquence couldn’t even find the words to tell the forces of liberty that he understood the wellsprings of their revolt.

For an American president to have been on the wrong side of this struggle — he lost his voice during this crucial moment, when the Green movement represented genuine hope and change for Iran — is shameful. And unfortunately, Obama’s actions fit into a perfectly predictable pattern. He has shown himself largely indifferent to the human-rights struggles of people around the globe. That message, having been sent, has also been received. Dissidents, and the cause of liberty, are paying the price for it.