Ahmadinejad likes Obama. At least, he has more regard for him than for George W. Bush -- but that goes for most people.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dotted headlines this week when he wrote a letter to President-elect Barack Obama congratulating him on his victory -- the first Iranian president to do so since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Ahmadinejad used the opportunity to remind Obama of the burden he must surely know that he carries: to unite this terror-stricken world that lays in the ashes of the Bush-Cheney manifesto of hate and pilfering.
Iran, like many nations around the world is finally optimistic about US foreign relations. Though it is cautious optimism no doubt -- considering that US foreign policy has maintained a rather continual progression for at least 50 years despite changes in presidential administrations. But Ahmadinejad -- and the American public before him -- recognized that as a symbol for optimism, the first African American president with a somewhat checkered experience of the world beyond America must surely already be an improvement on the past.
"I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the never-ending demands of a selfish minority and seize the opportunity to serve people so that you will be remembered with high esteem," Ahmadinejad wrote in his letter, indicating Obama's opportunity to use his new-found powers for good. It is now up to Barack Obama and his assembling team of advisers and staff to decide whether they will move forward or regress into the divisive foreign relations of their predecessors.
While Ahmadinejad carefully warned Obama to move constructively forward in his relations with Iran, the Iranian media reflected the no doubt vibrant optimism of the Iranian public toward the election of Obama. The day after Election Day, the front pages of the major Iranian dailies were all hopeful and even the conservative ones acknowledged the historic achievement of the American public in choosing to look beyond some forms of bigotry to elect the first black President.
Aftab-e Yazd newspaper: "The Path to the White House of the First Black"
McCain: the message of the American public is very clear; Obama: anything is possible in America
Kayhan newspaper: "Change in the White House" (poetic phrase): "He returns in the attire of a dove"
Kargozaaran newspaper: "The Changing Face of the White House"
Resaalat newspaper: "The Defeat of the republicans with the Victory of Obama"
Obama: "the time for change has come in America"
Tehran Times newspaper