Is Ahmadinejad losing his mojo?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently in reference to Iran's nuclear program that "the train of the Iranian nation is without brakes and a rear gear." Not a very good analogy if you're Iranian. After all, we all know what happens to trains without brakes - they derail.

It turns out that Iran's clerical leaders, who really hold the power in that country, are not too happy with Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, either. He's calling a lot of negative attention to the Islamic nation that sharper, if not cooler, heads there want to avoid.

All the Iranian president's tough talk has brought is another U.S. carrier battle group to the region and a debate over sanctions in the U.N. Security Council. We all know how ineffective sanctions can be, but my guess is that Iran's clerical leadership is more worried about what the U.S. might do unilaterally. After all, there was never a lot of international support to topple Saddam Hussein. But it still happened. And Saddam and his sons are still dead.

It's anybody's guess how the Iran mess will turn out in the end, but one thing's clear - if we keep ratcheting up the pressure, Ahmadinejad might be bumped out of office by his own countrymen. That would level the playing field a bit, to be sure.