Iran’s Ahmadinejad Says Obama is Acting Like Bush

Video

Ahmadinejad demands apology from Obama (NBC Today, June 25, 2009) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is accusing President Obama of interfering in Iran. Meanwhile, the opposition vows to continue protesting the disputed election. (01:48)

June 25, 2009

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Barack Obama of behaving like his White House predecessor and called on him to apologize for what he called U.S. interference following Iran’s elections.

Obama has ramped up his previously muted criticism, saying he was “appalled and outraged” by a crackdown on protests which followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

“Mr. Obama made a mistake to say those things … our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former U.S. President George W.) Bush used to say,” the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Before the election, the Obama administration had indicated that it was interested in reaching out to Iran, after years of a diplomatic freeze following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran has given no clear signal that it is interested in Obama’s overture, and in the wake of the election, the U.S. leader has slowly ratcheted up his criticism of Iran. …

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Commentary

Purely in terms of personal attributes, just how similar are Barack Obama and George W. Bush? And how, specifically, do they differ from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Following are their psychological profiles, developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.   

Personality Profile of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (June 11, 2009)

Personality Profile of George W. Bush (April 6, 2000)

Personality Profile of Barack Obama (Feb. 21, 2009)