As it has been the trend in the past two or three years, the President appeared on national ‎television under the cover of a heavy media and advertising blitz to defend his administration's ‎performance, especially in regards to inflation. The President spoke to the people on the eve of a ‎holy "Hajj" trip to Makka, Saudi Arabia - a trip that has been dubbed both "unholy" and ‎‎"unnecessary" by Hezbollah daily, a hardliner newspaper previously aligned with the President. ‎

One could have expected Ahmadinejad not to bring up the scolding he received at a high-profile ‎private meeting for running the country's economy into the ground - as the nation's top ‎economists had warned repeatedly in open letters - despite the unprecedented oil revenues ‎flowing in. One could have also expected Ahmadinejad not to follow the example of ‎accountable and democratic politicians and not to step down despite acknowledging the defeat of ‎his policies and his administration's impotence. However, one could not have expected ‎Ahmadinejad to be so defiant, stating that he forgives the failures of others and asking God to ‎direct them to the path of righteousness. ‎

I only ask this question: how can you expect the president, who started his term about 30 months ‎ago, to implement progressive and meaningful economic policies in the remaining 18 months of ‎his term? ‎

With the Hezbollah's warning about the President's unnecessary "personal trip" on the "state ‎budget," and with the skyrocketing prices in housing and food sectors, and with the reformists' ‎call for a "national unity" government, and behind-the-scenes scolding from high-profile ‎conservative statesmen, there was a small possibility that - just for once - Ahmadinejad would ‎take the blame for his failures and submit his resignation to the Iranian people. ‎

However, just as the President's promise to take oil revenues to people's tables proved to be false, ‎actually depleting people's tables from any food; and just as Hugo Chavez's multiple trips to the ‎Assauyeh free trade zone has not brought any foreign investment to the area, but has actually led ‎to a depletion of foreign investment, reducing the workforce in the area from 65 thousand to 21 ‎thousand, this possibility did not come true either. ‎

It seems as if Ahmadinejad is propagating a new style of "apologizing," which lacks both the ‎Islamic trait of humility and the Iranian trait of artfulness and eloquence. ‎

On Sunday night, Ahmadinejad demonstrated that God has not helped him pass even a simple ‎test. Perhaps it is upon us to ask God for his forgiveness. May God remind him of the desire of ‎the Iranian people in Makkah, so that he can submit his resignation upon his return, and relieve ‎the Iranian people and lovers of peace across the world from their misery. As the Iranian saying ‎goes, "a fish out of water is always fresh." ‎