Iran Slaps Down Obama’s Offer to Speak
March 21,2009 
By Ben Cohen
Predictable, I must say. I don't know who thought Obama's essentially vacuous message to Iran would do anything other than reinforce the idea that America doesn't really understand why there is so much hatred for them in the Middle East. While I'm not fan of the regime in Iran, I certainly understand their deep mistrust of America. Obama must break the mold if he wants serious dialogue with Iran, and this means putting the Israeli/U.S special relationship up for scrutiny, being honest about Iran nuclear energy plans (there's no evidence they want to create a bomb), and acknowledging American crimes in the region. Otherwise, it's all hot air.
By Ben Cohen
Predictable, I must say. I don't know who thought Obama's essentially vacuous message to Iran would do anything other than reinforce the idea that America doesn't really understand why there is so much hatred for them in the Middle East. While I'm not fan of the regime in Iran, I certainly understand their deep mistrust of America. Obama must break the mold if he wants serious dialogue with Iran, and this means putting the Israeli/U.S special relationship up for scrutiny, being honest about Iran nuclear energy plans (there's no evidence they want to create a bomb), and acknowledging American crimes in the region. Otherwise, it's all hot air.
This doesn’t seem fair to me. First, much of politics is symbolism and rhetoric. Ahmadinejad sent a letter of congratulations to Obama upon his election victory but made no policy changes. Still that was not a vacuous act. Obama’s message stands in sharp contrast with the “war on terror”, “with us or against us”, “axis of evil” type rhetoric of the past eight years. A welcome change, I believe. It creates room for negotiation, be it between the US and Iran, or the US and Russia on the subject of Iran. Second, the Obama administration is still forming policy. He only came into office in January. I think we should see the Nowruz message as part of a process rather than the sum total of Obama’s Iran policy.