Talking To The Persians

A new tack for the US - and a much smarter one:

Matt Steinglass found Obama's video chat somewhat patronizing (as did I, but I don't know how Iranians will take it) while Ezra gushes :

There are times when it's hard to believe that this is how my country acts now. That somewhere in government, some young bureaucrat had the idea that the President should publicly honor the Iranian New Year, and that bureaucrat felt that her superiors would also think this a good idea, and, indeed, the thought went all the way to the President, who agreed that a display of engagement and goodwill was consonant with our national values and foreign policy goals. It is hard to believe that five years after we were ordering "freedom fries" in the congressional cafeteria, we're posting Persian translations at Whitehouse.gov.