Iran Still Not Feeling the Whole ‘Hope and Change’ Thing

The idea of an outreach to the Iranian people would have made sense — up to a point — had Obama spoken through the despised mullahs rather than to them. Yet the great irony of Obama’s attempt to connect with Iranians is that it probably convinced them that he’s completely out of touch with their aspirations and reinforced popular notions of America as decadent, weak, and self-absorbed:

Khamenei set the bar impossibly high — demanding an overhaul of U.S. foreign policy, including giving up “unconditional support” for Israel and halting claims that Iran is seeking nuclear arms. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.

“Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials?” Khamenei said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The crowd chanted “Death to America.”

Despite Obama’s offer, the State Department still lists Iran as a sponsor of terrorism for its backing of militant groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. In Iraq, U.S. officials accuse Iran of aiding Shiite militias whose targets have included American soldiers.

“He (Obama) insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed.” [AP]

Shaping our message correctly ought to have begun with grasping a few essential truths: first, Iranians hate their own government; second, in a political and cultural sense, they hate us and will continue to for the foreseeable future; third, in an economic and (again) cultural sense, they would like more contact with us. This isn’t a typo, it’s just a highly enriched form of a familiar contradiction in how the world sees America: they want Best Buy, Christina Aguilera, and Jenna Jameson, and they also want all those impure things shielded from the virgin eyes of everyone else.

Being loved is harder than we some of us had thought.