Following Mir Hossein Mousavi's candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, will ‎Mohammad Khatami remain on this stage?‎
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In reality, what will cause Mr. Khatami's exist from the election stage is the "reasoning" ‎for the entrance of his supporters, the same reasoning that prevented them from ‎supporting Abdollah Nouri, who champions fundamental reform of the country's political ‎structure. ‎
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Friends who did not support Mr. Nouri's candidacy, reasoned that conservatives would ‎not tolerate Mr. Nouri's presence on the scene, and people do not have the will to engage ‎in political struggles and pay the price, but are rather looking for a candidate who can ‎alleviate their conditions a bit and rid them of Mr. Ahmadinejad's policies. ‎
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One can ask the reformists that if the focus is on not provoking opponents, shying away ‎from political challenges and being content with minimal reform, then why, in their ‎opinion, Mr. Khatami is a better choice than Mir Hossein Mousavi or Mehdi Karoubi ‎‎(who are much less opposed by the conservatives)?‎
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The reality is that the conservatives are very strongly opposed to Mr. Khatami, who ‎defines his identity on terms different from the regime's present identity. More ‎interestingly, Khatami knows this better than all his supporters, and has said repeatedly ‎that for a person such as Mir Hossein Mousavi, there are less tensions, obstacles are not ‎as grand, his identity is more in line with the regime's and finally people have much more ‎realistic and limited expectations of him. ‎
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To tell the truth, the reasoning of Mr. Khatami's supporters leads to supporting Mir ‎Hossein Mousavi or Mr. Karoubi, not Khatami.‎
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On this basis, that group of Khatami's supporters who convinced him to run by reminding ‎him of the country's sensitive conditions and the necessity of Mr. Ahmadinejad's ‎departure, and who convinced Khatami to run not necessarily to reform the regime, but to ‎end the current bleeding, are now in a precarious position with Mr. Mousavi's entrance, ‎because what they expected of Mr. Khatami can be accomplished more effectively by ‎Mr. Mousavi. ‎
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As such, with Mr. Mousavi's entrance, Mohammad Khatami has found convincing ‎reasons to step aside from a stage which he entered hesitantly and haphazardly, under ‎pressure from his supporters and friends.‎
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In this midst, Mr. Khatami may gradually change his reasoning for candidacy, to ‎something along the lines of reforming the regime and achieving democracy through ‎heading a vast political movement, something that neither Mir Hossein Mousavi nor ‎Karoubi intend to do.‎
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It is obvious that Mr. Khatami has never intended and does not intend now to head a vast ‎social movement. But if there are some who support Khatami on those bases, then we ‎must ask, why are you not supporting Abdollah Nouri?‎