Iran's Prez vs. Iran's Protesters

"Death to the dictator!"

If you thought Columbia University was tough on Ahmadinejad a few weeks ago, take a look at what happened now that he is back home and he spoke at Tehran University today.

The university has been the scene of demonstrations against hard-line policies at least since Mohammed Khatami, who showed sympathy for the protests, was president.

The chants of "dictator" are interesting. The students know that Ahmadinejad is not a dictator per se; he controls few of the instruments of power in Iran. But chanting "dictator" about Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, as students have done in the past, is riskier. Ahmadinehad is the next best target, because, to the protesters, he is a hard-liner who effectively represents the unaccountable authority that Khamenei embodies.

This is precisely what worried many of Khamenei's supporters when Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. In some ways the Leader is better off with a moderate president, because then he can play the role of sage balancer between the president and hard-line parties and institutions in the opposition. Ahmadinejad's ascendance, on the other hand, cast reformists into the shadows and Khamenei's authoritarianism into an uncomfortable spotlight that he cannot escape.

A day or two before I interviewed Ahmadinejad in Tehran last December, he faced a similar outburst at Amir Khabir University, and he displayed his populist touch when I asked him about it.

TIME: Tell us about your speech at Amirkabir University, where students demonstrated against you this week.

AHMADINEJAD: In our country, freedom is practiced in reality. The students say what they want, and I say my piece. They are our own children. They have complete freedom. I cannot impose my views on them. This is amongst the prides and honors of our system and our revolution. We have struggled and spent our youth to reach to this freedom.

Click here to see my followup question and the entire interview.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo