'Rural Poor' Made Ahmadinejad Prez Again

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 13, 2009 5:50 PM CDT

(Newser) – Westerners may well be wondering what happened to the articulate young Iranians who endorsed presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi on TV recently. Didn't those freedom-loving voters represent today's Iran? "Actually, no," writes Christopher Dickey in Newsweek. "It appears that the working classes and the rural poor—the people who do not much look or act or talk like us," have chosen Iran's president.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appealed to "the more pious and poor" who opposed change—especially for women—in a "paternalistic quasi-theocracy," Bill Keller writes in the New York Times. The other big winners: Israeli hawks, who feared that "congenial" Mousavi would make Iran seem less threatening. The losers: peacemakers like President Obama and his Arab allies, who again have to deal with a hard-liner.

[Images (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

In this image taken from TV Saturday June 13, 2009, Iran President Ahmadinejad speaks on Iranian TV. (AP Photo / Press TV Iran)

Former Iranian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (R) and his wife Zahra Rahnavard (L) cast their vote on June 12, 2009 in Tehran, Iran. (Getty Images)

Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech to Likud party members during an election convention on February 19, 2006 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Getty Images)

President Barack Obama conducts a town hall meeting on health care reform, Thursday, June 11, 2009, at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

A supporter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wears a sticker showing his portrait on her hijab, in western Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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The optimists in Iran and abroad have to ask themselves whether the joyful ruckus that filled the streets represented a new popular force, or just an opportunity to let off steam. - Bill Keller, New York Times

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 12 comments

cornelison

Jun 21, 2009 8:30 AM CDT

Unfortunately we may never see demonstrations in N. Korea.

JonmarkP

Jun 14, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

Apparently, Iran takes democracy seriously. When they think an election has been subverted, they're in the freakin' streets. When SCOTUS did that to us in 2000, we sat there and took it like the meek little lambs we are. Of course, we're not a democracy; we're a Constitutional Republic with an electoral college and the courts between the will of the people and the presidency. I'd say we have a lot to learn about freedom from our brothers and sisters in Iran. Land of the Free, Home of the (shrugs).

nick

Jun 14, 2009 12:16 PM CDT

Good story, but the author forgot to mention that the election was rigged. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner before the first ballot was cast. Think of Iran as one big Florida. :)

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Iran • Barack Obama • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Benjamin Netanyahu • election • Iranian election • Mir Hossein Mousavi

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