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| Volume XI, Summer 2004, Number 2 |
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| EXCERPT: Khatami: A Folk Hero in Search of Relevance |
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| Jahangir Amuzegar |
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Dr. Amuzegar was Iran's finance minister under the shah.
The unbridled euphoria that
greeted Hojjatol-Eslam
Mohammad Khatami's impres-
sive victory in the 1997 presidential elections is now history; the adoration and reverence that he received as a national hero on that occasion long gone.1 The seismic excitement generated by his reformist pledges has gradually turned into public cynicism and political apathy. The "new era" that the dapper, smiling and soft-spoken candidate promised to launch has yet to dawn. Under his leadership, Islamic dogmatism and dictation, with its hegemonic and discriminatory character, was to be replaced by a culture of dialogue and tolerance. Under a kinder, gentler and all-inclusive faith, the Islamic Republic's adversaries (moaned) were expected to become loyal opposition (mokhalef), and the ongoing opposition was to transform into supporters (movafeq).
In an ironic twist, this virtual nirvana has turned out to be a fairy tale. In Khatami's seventh year in office, most of his early supporters now seem to have turned into a fierce opposition, and a majority of the old loyal opposition have become open adversaries. In a fairly recent poll among Iran's university students, 72 percent of the respondents believed that the president's promised reform is over. According to the same poll, 38 percent of the participants wanted him to resign -- up from 24 percent a year earlier.2 Another national poll showed that support for the president dropped from more than 75 percent in 1998 to 43 percent in 2002.3 Latest press reports put his popularity rating at its lowest point ever. During his visit to the earthquake-devastated Bam region in late December 2003, the frustrated president was reportedly booed and boycotted by the grieving survivors.4 The people who used to carry his picture in their wallets are now throwing away his publicity leaflets. And the modicum of prestige and respect he still enjoyed among his die-hard followers was further dissipated by his humiliating submission to the supreme leader (rahbar) in February 2004, when he consented to hold a flawed parliamentary election -- despite his earlier vows never to engage in any balloting that was not "competitive, free and fair."5
This review attempts to search for answers as to why this so-called "worship symbol and beacon" of Iran's renaissance has become a virtual non-entity -- a "forlorn and increasingly inconsequential figure."6 The intention here is not to evaluate Khatami's overall performance as president, to discuss positive changes that occurred on his watch, or to blame him for all that ails this ancient land. The goal is to trace his fading political star and to highlight the reasons for the abject disillusionment of his old admirers.
1 See The Guardian, January 19, 2004.
2 The Christian Science Monitor, December 18, 2003.
3 Financial Times, September 25, 2002.
4 Arab News, January 2, 2004.
5 See Radio Free Europe, February 10, 2004.
6 Newsweek, February 18, 2004.
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