By Bill Siegel
In his powerful election night acceptance speech, President Barack Obama announced, “[I]t’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” And this notion of “change” as something that occurs by a mere election sells easily to his adoring devotees. It readily fits modern American intolerance for delayed gratification.
Unfortunately, real “change” is not magical. It typically takes long periods of hard work, suffering, setbacks, step by step advancement until some “tipping point” opens up. And this “change” is what we are seeing manifest in the streets of Tehran today.
Following the Iranian presidential election in which the large margin cited for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over apparent victor Mir Hossein Mousavi suspiciously suggested fraud, protests began to flare up. While many Iranian dissident sympathizers held out great hopes for the opening the Islamic Republic regime had seemed to create, most of the American liberal press had made up its mind that it was too difficult to mount any credible opposition to the overwhelming power the regime has secured for itself. Rigged elections were a staple for Iran – mostly through restricting the candidates in the first place but, if need be, through voter count. Read more ...
In his powerful election night acceptance speech, President Barack Obama announced, “[I]t’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” And this notion of “change” as something that occurs by a mere election sells easily to his adoring devotees. It readily fits modern American intolerance for delayed gratification.
Unfortunately, real “change” is not magical. It typically takes long periods of hard work, suffering, setbacks, step by step advancement until some “tipping point” opens up. And this “change” is what we are seeing manifest in the streets of Tehran today.
Following the Iranian presidential election in which the large margin cited for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over apparent victor Mir Hossein Mousavi suspiciously suggested fraud, protests began to flare up. While many Iranian dissident sympathizers held out great hopes for the opening the Islamic Republic regime had seemed to create, most of the American liberal press had made up its mind that it was too difficult to mount any credible opposition to the overwhelming power the regime has secured for itself. Rigged elections were a staple for Iran – mostly through restricting the candidates in the first place but, if need be, through voter count. Read more ...
Source: FSM
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