On Sunday, President Obama delivered his third annual Nowruz address to Iranians. Nowruz is the first day of spring and marks the New Year for the Iranian people. It is a festival that has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.
Obama began his speech talking about other nations and then focused in on Iran.
The Iranian government has demonstrated that "it cares far more about preserving its own power than respecting the rights of the Iranian people," he said.
He then followed that statement by reminding Iranians that "the future of Iran will not be shaped by fear, the future of Iran belongs to the young people -- the youth who will determine their own destiny."
What President Obama neglected to realize is that Nowruz is a holiday of joy and happiness. It is a holiday to be care-free, addressing the values of peace, compassion, justice, and brotherhood. By insulting the Iranian government on this cultural holiday and festival, he was insulting the people.
Ayatollah Khamenei, in an address marking Nowruz on March 22, charged Obama and the US with hypocrisy.
This negative reaction didn't only come from the Iranian leaders.
Kazem Anbarlouie, editor in chief of the conservative hard-line daily Resalat felt that, "Either President Obama is misinformed by his advisors or he has got the true information and pretends otherwise...Iran is calm and people are enjoying their New Year's holiday...The American is over-generalizing about the whole nation from this half percent [the protesters]."
President Obama had good intentions with his Nowruz address but greatly missed the mark. Maybe it would've been better to skip the Iranian criticism's and considered that it was a holiday. There are 364 other days Obama can condemn President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his governing styles. Perhaps the day of the New Year's celebration isn't the right day to do it.
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