"Death To America," This Time With Feeling

Abe Greenwald is all ginned up by Iran's response to Obama's goodwill gesture:

As each of Obama’s nice-guy efforts fails internationally while succeeding domestically, a cumulative impression is setting in around the globe. In Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and beyond, leaders are getting confirmation that not only is the new American president willing to indulge bad actors, but that the American public is thrilled about it. This is a strange and dangerous way to “restore America’s image.”

Rodger Shanahan notes:

...for those who saw the obligatory 'Death to America' chants from the large crowd gathered at mashad for Ayatollah Khameini's speech, it was hard not to notice the age of those chanting (largely middle-aged) and the relatively passionless recitation of the chant. It's a further reminder that the Iranian revolution that swept the clerics into power turned 30 this year.

Roger Cohen echoes cautious optimism in America's attempt not to be trapped by the demands of hardline Israelis and paranoid Sunni autocracies. The next generation in America and Iran do not seek the apocalypse of their parents' generation. Obama has to be a bridge between those two countries' next wave. That's his promise. And so far, so good.