JustASC

Here’s an interesting perspective,  courtesy of LA Times, on Obama and Iran, one you rarely heard amid an “official” Jewish communal consensus that Obama’s “softer” approach would signal weakness to Tehran:

Tehran feels the Obama team represents potential new threats to Iran, analysts say.

Bush’s polarizing persona may have alienated some countries that do business with Iran, but a unifying figure like Obama might help convince fence-sitters such as India, China, Turkey, Malaysia and Russia to synchronize their Tehran policies with the U.S.

“There is the thought that Obama could be as dangerous as Bush, but in a different way,” said Abolfazl Amouei, a conservative-leaning political scientist at Imam Sadeq University in Tehran. “In Iran, Democrats don’t have a good reputation. They were the first ones who started the sanctions under President Clinton.”

And this:

Obama’s victory could take the wind out of the sails of hard-liners who have consolidated their power on the threat of an American attack and weekly chants of “Death to America!” at Friday prayers. Leylaz predicted that outreach by the Obama administration might spell the end of Ahmadinejad and usher in a more pragmatic government more amenable to compromise over Iran’s nuclear program.

“The radicals will be weakened, because they have lost their partner in the United States,” Leylaz said. “They cannot silence critics by saying we are under pressure by the United States if Mr. Obama starts direct negotiations.”

In any case, it might be a tough sell to condemn a country whose leader’s middle name is the same as that of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Some in Iran entertain the theory that Obama, whose last name means “he’s with us” in Persian, is partially descended from Iranians who migrated to East Africa centuries ago.

“There’s an excitement,” said Ahmad Bakhshayesh-Ardestani, a political scientist. “An individual who’s of mixed race and who knows the Muslim world has become president of the U.S. He’s different. It’s inspiring.”