Of course, in no major way can you compare Rouhani to Ahmadinejad. He was a disaster and very unfortunate for the nation.
I am optimistic for several reasons. First of all, if you want to bring change, you have to be hopeful. You have to envision the future and try to reach that future.
Second, we have democratic forces inside the country, even though the oppression is so heavy inside the country. But this is a force inside the country, even though maybe in terms of some human rights standards this situation hasn't changed since Rouhani came to power because the judiciary is independent from the government. In other words, President Rouhani has no power over the judiciary, but he cares about these issues. He wants to open up the political atmosphere. He wants to give more room to democratic forces inside the country, and he has to navigate.
It's a very difficult job. He thinks he has to start with the economy first. If he is successful in addressing and by mutual agreement closing the nuclear file, and having sanctions lifted, people will feel a little bit empowered economically, and then through that, they can move to political reforms. It's very slow.