Ahmadinejad steals Obama’s campaign slogan?
By Matthew Clark | Staff Writer 04.29.09
Oh yes, he can.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has chosen the Farsi phrase Ma Mitavanim, or “We Can,” as his campaign slogan ahead of Iran’s June 12 elections.
Did he copy the phrase from President Obama? Who knows for sure. But it brings to mind the fictional McDowell’s restaurant in Eddy Murphy’s classic 1988 comedy “Coming to America.” You know. The one that sells “Big Micks” and has the “Golden Arcs.”
On the one hand, you can’t blame Ahmadinejad for choosing the winning slogan. But isn’t this the same guy who responded to Obama’s friendly offer to end 30 years of hostility with a cool suggestion that Obama first apologize for all the “crimes” that the US has commited against Iran?
“In a sense this is a back-handed compliment to Mr Obama,” writes Telegraph columnist, Con Coughlin.
Of course, Obama may have borrowed the slogan from Mexican-American civil rights leader César Chávez, who popularized the “Sí, se puede” (”Yes, it can be done”) chant in the early 1970s.
In fact, it’s quite possible that ancient Greeks running for office used a similar catchphrase.
Let’s see what wonders the phrase does for Ahmadinejad come June.
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2. aaa | 04.29.09
Did he copy the phrase from President Obama?
No,because he Elected 4 Years before Obama.
in fact Obama steal this phrase like some other Behaviors (papular meeting).
4. Rohit | 04.30.09
I agree with anticlimacus. The crimes that America has committed against Iran are real, they are not “crimes”. The US subverted a democratically elected Iranian government, resulting in the Shah’s terrible service Savak oppressing the Iranian people; the US shot down an Iranian airliner pretending they thought it was a jet fighter (it is like killing a stork pretending you thought it was a pigeon); and the US helped Saddam in his war against Iran. Iran lost almost a generation of their young men in that war. George Bush’s conferring on Iran the membership of “the axis of evil” is small potatoes by comparison. It is unlikely that Obama will see fit to apologize to Iran, it makes no political sense for him to do so. But a little humility on America’s part would do no harm.
5. Randy Shaw | 04.30.09
Right-wing opponents of Obama accused him of stealing “Yes We Can” from the Iranian President soon after he adopted the rallying cry on the night of the New Hampshire primary. These critics were apparently unaware that Obama borrowed the phrase from the United Farmworkers’s “Si Se Puede.”. I describe the 1972 origins of “Si Se Puede” in my new book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
6. Reza | 04.30.09
Actually Mr. Clark, Ahmadinejad in presidential elections of 2005 adopted the slogan “mitavanad va mishavad” (it is possible and we can do it)… basically yes we can…for some reason the western press has amnesia and has forgotten this or simply does not know and NOW they ASSUME that it is ahmadinejad who is stealing from obama. Funny stuff.
7. art | 04.30.09
This slogan was writtenon every wall in iranian cities long before Mr. Obama copy the slogan. I think Mr. Khomeini was the first person to use this slgan. Ma mytavanim
8. abby dulla | 04.30.09
Breaking News—-> he had picked this phrase a few years before King Hussein Obama did. Sorry…what you’re reporing is neither new nor accurate.
9. Bob | 04.30.09
This is an idiotic article. Ahmadinejad used almost the same slogan in 05 as the other comments have made clear. Do your research.
10. Lawrence Smallman | 05.11.09
Who is copying who? During the Iran Iraq war - Ma Mitavanim became a famous catchphrase from 1985 onwards, following the early Iraqi advances at the beginning of the war.
So it is not quite fair to say Ahmadinejad took it from Obama - I’m sure most Iranians would recognise it from the war, not from Obama’s campaign.
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1. anticlimacus | 04.29.09
The level of bigotry that passes without comment is scandalous.
First of all, Ahmadinejad sent congratulations to Obama on his inauguration, to which there has been no reply.
Second, you put “crimes” in quotes, as if sending the CIA to subvert a democratically elected government is a prank. The quotes also imply that the author considers the training in torture techniques we gave SAVAK is something other than a crime.
Third, Ahmadinejad’s slogan from his first campaign “Mitavanim va mishavad” means “We can and it will be.” Did anyone accuse Obama of stealing Ahmadinejad’s slogan? No, because it is taken for granted that Ahmadinejad would want to emulate Obama, who is, after all, American. This may be a problem in America’s understanding of other countries.
Fourth and finally, the slogan is as insipid and pandering as a slogan can be- It combines action, hopefulness, and solidarity, without the slightest hint of what the candidate stands for! Consequently, it would be shocking if politicos from around the world _didn’t_ spontaneously discover it.
All that happened in the American election of 2008 is that America found a leader that more than half the people actually liked. As my friend put it, Obama is a North American liberation leader. As such, it is only natural that he borrowed a phrase from Hugo Chavez.