Two wise leaders reelected
In just over two days the world witnessed the reelection of two wise leaders following their landslide victories: President Mohammad Khatami of Iran on Sunday and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain on Friday.
This signifies that both Khatami and Blair, now serving their second successive four-year terms, have earned the trust of their people to lead their countries into a better future while improving cooperation with their neighbors and the international community.
In the case of Iran, Khatami has proven himself as a champion of democracy and freedom of the press in a nation tightly controlled by conservative Muslim clerics.
Since assuming the presidential post in August 1997, Khatami has delivered significant benefits for most of the country's 70 million people through reform programs encouraging cultural freedom and political liberalization, while maintaining Iran's identity as an Islamic republic.
His visits to the Vatican and Italy in 1999, and to Germany last year, proved to be successful in not only thawing previously strained relations with the Western countries, but also in boosting Iran's economic and cultural cooperation with those countries, thereby breaking Tehran's years of isolation from the Western world.
A reformist, Khatami was aware that it was necessary for Tehran to establish friendly ties with industrialized nations to keep up with the rapid changes in telecommunications technology and science, as well as enticing foreign investors into Iran. He was also aware that not all Western cultures, which have influenced millions of young Iranians through satellite television programs, were detrimental to Iran's national interests.
In the case of Britain, Blair, confident that he can persuade his country to adopt the single European currency (euro) through a referendum, has convinced the British people that only when Britain adopts the euro can the country avoid what he warns as being "dangerously isolated" from its neighbors in the European Union.
"We are not yet the leading nation in Europe that our weight, prosperity and history demand," Blair said in one of his campaign speeches.
Furthermore, during his campaign he also pledged to improve the country's public services that had deteriorated during his tenure.
Stressing that his Labour government had succeeded in stabilizing Britain's economy -- as proven by the lowest rate of unemployment in 25 years -- Blair promised that his administration would provide an additional 10,000 doctors and teachers, and 20,000 extra nurses, to improve health care and education, in addition to a 180 billion pound sterling ($240 billion) program for transport improvements over the next decade.
The two leaders' prudent decisions and brave undertakings that cater to their people's aspirations and demands, especially those of the younger generation, have obviously helped them earn their victories and retain the leadership that will deliver their countries into a more prosperous future.
Despite their landslide victories, both Blair and Khatami will face difficult tasks in the months ahead.
While Blair has yet to conduct the referendum regarding Britain's adoption of the euro, necessary for him to realize his ambitious programs, Khatami will have to adjust the pace of reform so as not to provoke the conservatives' fear that rapid reform will weaken their decades of control over the military and judiciary system.