Our Man In Iran - ?

(And by the way, I posted here also.)

This Yahoo News story tells us that…

TEHRAN, Iran – Beleaguered reformers in Iran are repackaging their once-popular former president Mohamad Khatami (pictured)to challenge the right-wing grip on politics in June elections.

Hailing what they call a "New Khatami," reformist operatives – who have been relegated to Iran's political wilderness for years – hope that Mr. Khatami's campaign will erase a reputation for weakness and rekindle the exuberant spirit for change that brought the cleric landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.

But even Khatami's most vocal supporters say it will not be easy taking on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the conservative institutions of the Islamic Republic that are lined up to back him, or another hard-line candidate, despite Iran's struggling economy and its standoff with the West.

I’m not exactly sure what the Obama Administration could do to help Khatami here, who faces long odds as the story tells us (basically, Ayatollah Khameni, the guy who really runs the country, told Khatami not to run, which probably predicates the outcome in favor of Ahmadinejad, though a massive turnout could – could – be a factor).

But I’m quite sure that Obama won’t commit the mistake of his pretender of a predecessor by making that ridiculous “axis of evil” pronouncement (here) that ended up uniting both Khameni and Khatami against a common enemy (us, to the point where we "bailed" on Khatami), the same way that our war of choice in Iraq ended up uniting the Sunnis and the Shiites against us also (and in case anyone is prone to write off Khatami as just another Iranian bent on attacking “the great Satan” at any moment, note here that Khatami condemned the 9/11 attacks and suicide bombings, saying they “did Islam an injustice” and those responsible “would not go to heaven”).

As a result of President George W. Milhous Bush’s influence in the middle east, Hamas consolidated itself in Palestine, Hezbollah did likewise in Lebanon, and Ahmadinejad (who quite probably was one of the “students” responsible for the illegal takeover of our embassy in Iran in 1979, as noted here) emerged as the president of Iran.

And I know President Obama has his plate more than full primarily with domestic issues at the moment, but I think a foreign policy overture of support to Khatami directly from him would be a positive development overall.