It’s quite remarkable, really. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has gone from the legitimate, elected leader of the Islamic Republic to chopped liver in a 24-hour period. Turns out jellyfish have more of a backbone than the incumbent administration.

“Let me correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr. Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say that’s not for me to pass judgment on,” Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He’s been inaugurated. That’s a fact. Whether any election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that, and we’ll let them decide about that.” (Reuters)

That’s not a “correction”; it’s a reversal. Gibbs said yesterday that Ahmadinejad is the elected leader of Iran — not that he was merely to be inaugurated and the election was thoroughly disputed. Yesterday’s statement was a conscious effort by the administration to avoid offending Tehran in the hopes of future opportunities for appeasement. Today’s reversal comes as a result from outrage from across the globe, including in Iran itself.