Yesterday\’s Washington Post had an excellent editorial on what is wrong with the nuclear “deal” cooked up by President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry. Here are the first two paragraphs:
PRESIDENT OBAMA has launched an aggressive lobbying campaign for his preliminary nuclear deal with Iran, telling the New York Times on Saturday that “this is our best bet by far to make sure Iran doesn\’t get a nuclear weapon.” Unfortunately for those who disagree, the president\’s claims could have a self-fulfilling quality. By loudly insisting there is no alternative to the terms he has agreed to, Mr. Obama helps ensure that the option of maintaining sanctions while insisting that Iran agree to dismantle more of its nuclear infrastructure – as Israel and some in Congress advocate – is no longer a practical alternative.
At the same time, the White House stance risks weakening its negotiating position in the crucial bargaining with Iran. Mr. Obama conceded that some vital “details” have not yet been worked out, including how the lifting of sanctions on Iran would be tied to its implementation of steps such as reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium and its base of installed centrifuges. Worryingly, the fact sheets issued by the U.S. and Iranian governments differ sharply on this point: While the U.S. version says that “sanctions will be suspended after” the International Atomic Energy Agency “has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps,” Tehran\’s account is that “at the same time as the start of Iran\’s nuclear-related implementation work, all of the sanctions will be automatically annulled on a single specified day.”
As any reader of this blog knows, I have written disparagingly of the nuclear “deal” with Iran many times. But I have never suggested the attempt should not have been made; only that Barack Obama and John Kerry have no talent for this and they\’ve come up with a lousy deal which, for a variety of reasons – none the least of which is security in the Middle East – should not be signed.
The Post\’s editorial, while not saying it in so many words, seems to draw the same conclusion. I urge you to use the link I\’ve provided, read it all, and see for yourself.
Bottom line: This is a bad deal that President Obama is trying to sell as a good one. So, instead of admitting that he could not get what was needed out of Iran, Mr. Obama\’s enormous ego causes him to put a smiley-face on the deal in an effort to con us into believing it is something more than what it is.
Mr. Obama\’s con job isn\’t working. And shouldn\’t.
The Washington Post sees this. But what about its northern counterpart, the New York Times?
Read my next blog and find out.
