Flashback

When the winner of the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election was up in the air for weeks after all the votes had been counted the first time, the rest of the world held their collective breath along with all of us. Who would become "the leader of the free world?" Would it be Al Gore or the other guy? There must have been some hushed conversations behind closed doors outside of our borders. "What are we going to do if they really do elect that guy?" Many European newspapers openly questioned the legitimacy of Pinhead's presidency.
Here in the United States, the world's remaining superpower, we managed to keep that "Who's The Boss" balloon in the air longer than anyone could have imagined. The words "hanging chad" became highly significant, and widespread allegations of voter fraud erupted across our country for the first time in decades. How could something like this happen? And how could it happen, with a tad less ferocity, all over again four years later?
This weekend, Iraq had their version of our "too close to call" election. In their version, Al Gore is being played by pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and Pinhead comes in the form of that guy in the Members Only jacket, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In their version, the streets are on fire. Ahmadinejad claims he won in a landslide. A great many Iranians beg to differ, as does the rest of the world who maintain a "wait and see" attitude.
Wait and see if anyone dies in the riots. Wait and see if the security forces will put down the upstart reformers. Wait and see if hope and change can be brought about by hurling rocks and bottles. Wait and see if the outcome of this election marks any kind of shift from the hard line policies of Iran's chief cleric and supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei has already validated the published accounts of a nearly two-to-one victory by the incumbent, calling the result a "divine assessment."
In 2000, we all sat and waited while the media and the Supreme Court attempted to make sense of our muddled electoral process. This summer in Iran that same challenge may take place with bricks, clubs, and guns. Stay tuned.