Joshua Gee is a public relations professional, political technologist, social media nerd, amateur public policy wonk, Eagle Scout, bleeding heart liberal and a son of the American Revolution.
Depressing, depressing video on Afghanistan about Marine trainers in Afghanistan and the state of the Afghan army. Why can’t American TV news do anything like this?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/mar/27/obama-afghanistan-military
Other money line?
“I give a fuck about your chai. I care about the mission.”
For those that don’t subscribe, this week the President used his weekly online address to celebrate the Iranian New Year. Full video below:
Most blogs I have read hold this up as a token of how much administration has changed and also make jokes at the idea of President Bush speaking Farsi – fair points both. Ezra Klein does it best:
There are times when it’s hard to believe that this is how my country acts now. That somewhere in government, some young bureaucrat had the idea that the President should publicly honor the Iranian New Year, and that bureaucrat felt that her superiors would also think this a good idea, and, indeed, the thought went all the way to the President, who agreed that a display of engagement and goodwill was consonant with our national values and foreign policy goals. It is hard to believe that five years after we were ordering “freedom fries” in the congressional cafeteria, we’re posting Persian translations at Whitehouse.gov.
Hear hear. But, I think it is also worth comparing this to the previous administrations’ attempts at using public statements to influence Iran. In 2005, on the eve of elections in Iran that looked like they might unseat Ahmadinejad in favor of a slightly more moderate government, President Bush gave a speech saying that Iran’s electoral process failed to meet “the basic requirements of democracy” that the “oppressive record” of the country’s rulers would undercut the legitimacy of the upcoming vote. The result was Iranians getting upset that President Bush was trying to meddle in their affairs. President Ahmadinejad’s party won renewed support and the election. Good job there, I would have preferred he tried to speak Farsi.
I don’t know enough about Nowruz or Iran to say whether or not President Obama’s message contained cultural tones and phrases that wouldn’t make sense to an American but would be significant to Iranians that were listening for them (I would guess they did, but that is me giving President Obama the benefit of the doubt). I can say that I think this is the best medium to reach out to Iran.
Fun Fact: Iran has the most bloggers per capita of any country in the world. If you think the media won’t give you a fair shake (which Iran’s state-run media probably won’t), then take your message around the media and straight to the people. Online and Social media efforts to connect with the people of Iran may be the best bet to bring about real change to the perception of the United States.