Iran is in the middle of a tidal change in their society. Folks are debating whether it's Tienamen Sq. or Iran 1979, or something else.
I think it's most similar to the US in September and October of 2008. Millions of donors, giving $10, $20, $50 for the first time in their lives to the most grass roots political campaign anywhere in modern history voted in the polar opposite of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. We went from an idiot, legacy arch conservative to a self-made pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps African American named Barack Hussein Obama.
Our revolution was non-violent, elegant, dignified, civil. But make no mistake, it was the functional equivalent of a revolution.
The old guard in the Democratic party was knocked down too. The Clintons were defeated. The most popular brand in Democratic politics besides Kennedy was beaten by a junior first term senator, who in 2000 couldn't even get a ticket to the floor of the Democratic convention.
I know today, we wish Obama was more liberal or had a stronger spine on Health Care or GLBT issues. But c'mon, just a few years ago, we had a President that actually said he wanted a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, he wanted to privatize social security and he took us to war in Iraq, under false pretenses for oil. That same idiot offered us the likes of Harriet Myers for the USSC.
Today, we have a President that really has had a very bold agenda for the first five - six months of his tenure. He's had composure and clarity in the face of the biggest economic meltdown in 60 years. He inherited two wars and a s--t storm in the middle east and the Korean peninsula. He's managed it with such grace and calm (especially compared with "I'm going to shut down my campaign to fix the economy" I heart Sara Palin McCain).
We have a short attention span and we want things fixed yesterday in the US. We have very high standards. And we should, but I think Obama is on his way to meeting most of them because he operates on the theory that
YES WE CAN. Yes, we can. Remember that mantra of only a few short months ago.
Well, in Iran, they're starting to think - YES WE CAN. Maybe they saw the images of Obama speaking to tens of thousands on the streets of Philadelphia and Portland. Maybe they heard him in the football stadium in Denver when he accepted the nomination. Maybe they saw him in Chicago the night he beat McCain. In this day and age of You Tube and Facebook, I bet they did, and on some level, in some way, in some part, I bet it's added to and bolstered their actions these past few days.
And, I'm sure they read Martin Luther King, and I'm sure they read Ghandi and all of the other leaders in that sought non-violent revolution.
They're sick of the current regime. They want what we had in November 2008 - regime change. They want fair elections. They want to participate in the modern, enlightened world. They want to be heard. They don't want an isolated theocracy.
Yes, they can. YES THEY CAN. The train has already left the station there. Is Ahmenidinijad (I can't spell his name) really going to start mass bombings of his own people? Does he think that will stop this?