President Obama’s “YouTube” Diplomacy

Can so much mistrust and resentment be erased with one stroke of the pen? Is it possible that the antagonism between the United States and Iran, a cornerstone of international relations for three decades, could suddenly become obsolete?

After being subjected to shocks of extraordinary magnitude, the world is trying to find its bearings. Whether by agreement or by force, everything seems to be out in the open, from the problems of the financial system and the revision of capitalism to international organizations concerned with vital issues like global warming and fighting injustice that have been cast aside as being too “global.”

The policies of today’s United States seem very changeable. The country is caught in the process of both recognizing their planetary responsibility and displaying uncharacteristic modesty. Most of all, they have given themselves a new president who continues to behave in an unprecedented manner.

Thursday, Barack Obama was the first president to attend a famous televised talk show. Between discussions of the economic crisis, he joked about the size of his personal security detail and about Washington’s political ways. The next day he launched “YouTube diplomacy,” as it was immediately christened, by extending his hand to Iranians and their leaders in a message that was soon circulated throughout the web and that will doubtless be the principal topic of family discussions in Iran during the Persian New Year.

Whether addressing Americans on television or Iranians on the internet, Barack Obama is as natural as a fish in water. His obvious sincerity makes his speeches immediately credible, and his appeals to reason seem nearly to drain enmities of their substance, even enmities as deep – and as skillfully maintained – as those that divide Washington and Tehran.

Crisis is the worst possible context in which to achieve the kind of miracles that the new American president is seeking; during times of crisis, relationships are strained, the poor get poorer, egos swell and rebellions erupt. However, bucking fate by a consistent mixture of lucidity and candor, Barack Obama is opening pathways today that will be very difficult for his adversaries – or his allies, for that matter – to refuse to follow in the future.