Who Really Won the Iranian Election?

June 18, 2009: Earlier this week Iran held its tenth presidential election, and officials announced incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the unanimous winner. There was only a slight problem to this announcement. According to a rather distressed general public, Ahmadinejad could not have won the election, given that most were in favor of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Unlike Ahmadinejad, Mousavi advocated a diplomatic approach to foreign affairs and more freedoms to the general population, both economically and socially. I’ll let the news reporters debate what this setback means for the country.  My mind began to wander towards two Iranian friends of mine, who are anything but the stereotypical conservative who seemed to dominate the 1980s culture in Iran.

The friends I am thinking of are actually sisters who came to America with their dad when they were in high school. The younger one is tall, with long hair, and a face and personality that attracted at least one new boyfriend a month. The older one is short, with cropped hair and a sharp mind. She is now married to an American, but when she first came here she was carrying on a long distance relationship with a boyfriend in Iran. Both girls love to party, dance, wear attractive clothes, and hang out at all hours. You might be surprised to find out that they had been enjoying their social lifestyle long before coming to America. In fact, they told me, many young Iranians do.

Distraught with the recent election results, they are doing what they can in America to voice their opinion against it. I recently got a facebook message from them showing a link to a site that denounces Ahmadinejad as the president and encourages world leaders to not recognize him as such. If the election could stir such passion among the Iranian Americans here, is it any wonder that the country has experienced some of the largest riots in its recent history?

While dictatorship might still hold onto Iran for several years, maybe decades, to come, I really do see a change in the heart of Iran. I see a new generation of people who are tired of being told what they can’t do, and will vote for someone who offers them the beginning of freedom.  And when their chosen leader does not get the presidency he deserves, they are willing to voice their despair so that the world can hear them.

UPDATE: July 30: A few days ago I came across this insightful commentary on CNN.com. A really good read for those of you who are interested in the Green Movement (you know, the other Green Movement) and how it may affect the rest of the Middle East.

President Obama

January 7, 2009: Because his Inauguration is coming up, I thought I would take a moment and congratulate the former senator for winning the election. Although he hasn’t been able to step into the shoes of commander-in-chief yet, I’m already hopeful that he’ll help pull America out of the many messes that our current president has put us in.  Seriously, any guy who went from being an impoverished child to a well-respected senator deserves recognition. And while I do not think that how far a person advances in life should be a primary factor in the presidential election, I do think that it says a lot about the person’s intelligence and work ethics. Between him and McCain, Obama seemed like the best candidate because of his powerful communication skills  (when you represent about 300 million people in the eyes of other countries, being able to talk effectively is rather important), his excellent choice in a vice president, and his grounded political views. Okay, I admit, as far as political views go, that is more of a personal thing.  What I might think is a good idea someone else could think is incredibly horrible. I would have taken that into consideration If McCain had chosen Mick Romney as the Republican vice presidential candidate, because I respect both candidates. But I really did not want Sarah Palin to be vice president. The woman has no clue how to be. Don’t get me wrong, she is smart and ambitious. But she just doesn’t have the knowledge or experience to take on such a huge job. Her interviews were awful, she didn’t know how to answer questions or even how to make herself look good (forget beauty, looking good as a v.p. candidate is all about the brains). Biden, on the other hand, was just as good at handling interviews as Obama, and from the comments that the two candidates gave I am confident that they will both represent American interests very well. So congratulations Obama, here’s to four years of a wonderful presidency!