President Obama’s speech in Cairo, which had American journalists swooning at his feet, was indeed a polished presentation. American policy in that area of the world has not changed an iota, mind you, but the vessel in which it is delivered has been spit-shined. Obama is cool awesome.
In the speech, Obama acknowledged that the United States had engineered the 1953 coup d’état that overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran.
In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution…
This is interesting. “Played a role” is a qualifier added to minimize the importance of U.S. involvement, like saying we “played a role” in World War II. But every Iranian knows this history, probably every human in the Middle East. Here it is, 56 years later, and there is finally official acknowledgment by a U.S. official.
By that standard, it will be 2075 before any information on U.S. involvement in fomenting the rebellion following the recent election is disclosed. Barring medical advances, I probably won’t be around.
Before I am reminded that the people of Iran don’t have true representative government, and that there is true reason for unrest, and that people do want better things for themselves there, let me add that U.S. is messing in Iran for reasons having nothing to do with the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people. The U.S. does not care about democracy. In 1953, the U.S. saddled Iran with a fascist thug, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, “The Shah”, and kept him in power until 1979. The rebellion that year, though it did not end well, was as much against the United States as the Shah himself.
So let us be spared pompous preaching about representative government in Iran. In the United States, more than 70% of us want single payer health care, more than that would settle for a legitimate public option. It’s not allowed.
So let’s not aspire too much about Iranian democracy until we get some meaningful form of representative government for ourselves.
Wouldn’t it be great if Americans took to the street? What is it about Iran that its citizens can be so informed and involved? As bad as their government might be now, it seems to work better than what we have.
Piece of Mindful 
They also remember teh post-WWI history in great detail. We are the new Brits.
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As bad as their government might be now, it seems to work better than what we have.
You have gone kook.
I’m a bit suspicious of claims that the CIA was puppet master back in the day. The claim is most often made by those who think they should be the master.
…more than 70% of us want single payer health care
I’d call this misleading. Polls can suss this out, but when pressed farther most of us like our current situation better than a proposed alternative.
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Their government seems to work better in that their leaders are sensitive to public opinion. They have to be. Here, as Dmitry Orlav (a Russian expatriate) noted, we are free to protest to our heart’s content. The government simply ignores public opinion. The Russians were ham-handed – they threw protesters in jail. We’re far more clever than that.
The statistics on health care are pretty steady over the decades, and it is in large part due to interactions Americans have with people from other countries who have public systems. In spite of the fact that those successful systems are shut out of our information system, word does get out. As to grilling them on details, that’s not the point. The point is, rather, that if we had representative democratic rule, then leaders would respond to majority opinion when it is so strong and consistent over time.
We are a crappy republic/democracy – whatever you want to call it. We are a plutocracy.
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Your assessments are not accurate. How can you claim Iran leaders are more sensitive to public opinion? How do you know what is Iranian public opinion? I notice a lot of them vote with their feet and come here.
You overstate the case for public health care systems in other countries. The grass is always greener.
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Iranian leaders are more sensitive to public opinion in that the public has taken to the streets. How do they deal with it? Repressive measures, but in the long-term,that is self-defeating. It did not work for the Shah.
In this country we have a government that is far to the right of the population and that routinely ignores public wishes. We don’t take to the streets as we are mollified by TV crap and sports, and are kept pretty much in the dark by media anyway. I suspect that Iranians know a whole lot more about the world than Americans.
I have seen surveys of public satisfaction with health care systems in other countries than indicate that vast majorities are either very satisfied, satisfied, or fairy satisfied. That’s not green grass or anecdote- it’s fact. In our country, 82% of us think that we need either fundamental change or complete overhaul. Again, fact.
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