A Head Start

I don’t know anyone who’s in a hurry to start the 2016 presidential campaign, including the men and women who hope to be President. But I’m always curious to hear what our editor at large David von Drehle makes of the new tribes, old feuds and sudden plot twists that shape the pageant of American politics. In a recent editorial meeting, he started talking about the challenge facing anyone in either party looking to block Hillary Clinton’s road to the White House, and I wanted to hear more. David makes a persuasive argument that Clinton doesn’t need to declare a candidacy anytime soon because nothing would actually change: she’s already giving the speeches, schmoozing the wallets, watering the grassroots and tracking which Democrats have been naughty or nice. None of which means that she’s unstoppable–only that politics, like life, isn’t fair, players get to play by different rules, and Hillary rules are ones any aspiring candidate would envy.

Few Westerners know Iran as well as Robin Wright: her first trip there as a journalist was in 1973, and she has covered every important milestone since, from the Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis to the more recent staring contest with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program. But on her most recent trip, Wright sensed a change in Iranians’ attitudes toward the U.S., a country the Islamic Republic has long regarded as the Great Satan. As her story shows, this is not just a change of heart: there’s a cold-headed calculation that Iran needs the U.S. or at least needs it not to be an enemy. That, says Wright, is also true about the U.S.’s view of Iran. There are still difficult nuclear negotiations ahead, but the two countries have an opportunity to reset their relationship. “For the first time we have a sense of common interests and concerns and a chance to lay old ghosts to rest,” she says.

Nancy Gibbs, MANAGING EDITOR

BEHIND THE SCENES

When Gillian Laub photographed Israeli leader Ariel Sharon (see page 17) for TIME at his home in Jerusalem in 2005–it would be his last formal photo shoot–she was struck by the controversial leader’s “grandfatherly” style. “I felt like he was this teddy bear of a man,” she recalls. “He asked if I was single, and said I should move to Israel, that he had a great shidduch, or match, for me.” Two years later, Laub told the story of her experience with Sharon at a lecture in New York City, where a woman in the audience insisted that she meet her friend–a man whom Laub eventually married. “So the truth is,” says Laub, “he was responsible for me meeting my husband.”

NOW ON TIME.COM

To celebrate Oscar season, we’ve compiled traits from 233 past Best Picture winners and nominees to help you identify the key elements of Oscar-winning plots. Check out our generator (example below) at time.com/randomoscars.

Elizabeth (1998)

The English Patient (1996)

Babe (1995)

Mystic River (2003)

In the 16th century, compassion, jealousy and psychoanalysis collide for a mute star-crossed lover and a Buddhist survivor.

Ordinary People (1980)

Elizabeth

Crash (2004)

The English Patient

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