How Iran's Populist Lost His Popularity

[Fountain79]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1536210,00.html

The creekside cafes of Darband, at the foot of Tehran's Alborz Mountains, are designed for lounging with waterpipes and tea and holding leisurely conversations about politics. Six months ago, you'd hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's name in discussions all around you almost as soon as you sat down on the cafe's Persian-carpeted floors. These days, the subject rarely comes up. "He's like all the rest of them," says Amin, 22, a motorcycle messenger, using a Farsi version of "them" that's shorthand for the corrupt clerical establishment. "What has he done to solve our problems?" Hashem, his companion, nods at the Iranian cigarettes lying beside him. "Even these are more expensive," he says. "He just repeats slogans and goes on trips."

[pinto]

1. He was hailed as a populist, originally. It seems a bad break for the

majority of the country that it's all become about facing down the West. He may well parlay his rhetoric into a negotiated agreement on nuclear power plants, but the cowboy mentality is as bad for his country, relatively, as Bush's is for ours. We don't need more showdowns at any more OK Corrals.