Happy Nowruz

Watching President Obama's Nowruz greeting gave me a pang of sadness and nostalgia. Seven years ago, I tried to sell the idea of President Bush doing a Nowruz speech. Nowruz is a pre-Islamic holiday that Iran's religious authorities disapprove - and often try to suppress. Nowruz greetings could have been used to forge a deeper American connection to those Iranians who reject the obscurantism, corruption and cruelty of mullah rule - and to show American awareness of the great Iranian culture that reaches back 2500 years and extends halfway across Central Asia.

The idea went nowhere of course. And now it's being used as part of an attempt to engage the very regime that once punished the holiday's celebration. Sad all around.