The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, said in a prerecorded interview that he did not get the sense that the Iranians were playing games at the negotiating table. However, it apparently seems as though they were, with Mr. Gregory reporting before the interview that the Iran President Hassan Rouhani stated that, in fact, Iran would not stop enriching uranium. Should we be worried about Mr. Kerry's ability to read the room during negotiations?
It's a bit of a jab we will admit, not to be confused with a criticism, as Mr. Kerry has overall acted on and defended the Obama Administration's foreign policy effectively, doing what he can where he can, a solid fill-in for Mrs. Clinton, but we do have questions about some of the policy. He didn't have the knowledge of the Iranian statement, but that didn't render the interview an entire loss.
A criticism would be that the program is meeting the standard of its heritage right now and doesn't have the clout to get a live interview with the Secretary. We understand that there may have been scheduling problems; however, they should have had a more in-depth interview on multiple topics.
Basically, the deal is that there is no deal between Iran and the West. If Iran is not going to stop enriching, a decision by the way that Rouhani certainly does not make, then the sanctions will remain in place. As Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) noted, meetings about reviewing sanctions have been cancelled. There's the question of whether the sanctions should be ramped up even more, in light of the Iranians' decision, but if you have them at the table, punitive at this moment is not the way to go. We agree, in sentiment but not in tone, with the Tennessee Senator that the Administration should not deal away its leverage. Right now, you stay at the table, but stay Gibraltar firm. Mr. Corker referred to North Korea diplomacy where the Bush Administration got burned in an attempt to increase normalization of relations. It looked bad politically but you have to at least make an attempt, however with that said, the Obama Administration should heed that lesson amongst their attempts to increase overall communication.
We've been hard on President Obama lately with regard to his foreign policy because we see it as a blown opportunity entirely if he achieves no dramatic effect. On domestic policy, there is no confidence in Congress and the Administration to collaborate on anything, obviously, so where the Administration can more effectively chart its own course. Success is fleeting more quickly for Mr. Obama on this front because of daily N.S.A. revelations causing the slow death of credibility by a thousand cuts.
Secretary Kerry did say that 'no deal is better than a bad deal,' which echoes previous statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu... purposefully and prudently. He contested Mr. Gregory's question about broader criticism on the Administration not exercising power in the region. But that's not what we're referring to. Exercising power for the sake of it is short term thinking. We're talking about influence and the long term.
[Note: The format for the program has been all over the place lately so we're reserving the right to not include a comment about every aspect of the program. To this point, it seems as though the producers have lost a little confidence in their moderator using special reports (Harry Smith), book promotions (Joe Scarborough), and various news segments with Chuck Todd to fill up time. Case in point is Mr. Gregory focusing on Mr. Kerry's Kennedy comment more than focusing on his answers about Iran. And why not ask about Syria? We were almost going to fire missiles into this country, as the Secretary noted. It feels like "Meet The Press" loses its concentration from week to week.]
On Governor Chris Christie...
There is no doubt that the citizens of New Jersey like the way Mr. Christie (R-NJ) runs the state. It would seem that Mr. Christie is a moderate conservative because fiscally he is very much a Republican and on social issues, he's liberal. However, that is not entirely accurate. Mr. Christie is conservative on social issues, but a Democratic state congress is responsible for that perception because they push a more tolerant, open social policy that overrides a veto. This dynamic creates a political center with which most Americans are comfortable. Mr. Christie doesn't share the attitude of an extreme ideologues in his party that the opposition party is not to be collaborated with or that it's the 'enemy.' Mr. Christie's success is the result of his pragmatism, unlike Mark Halperin's asinine gushing saying that Mr. Christie is 'magical.' The fiscal conservative/ social liberal (what most Americans want) is the result of a dynamic that consists of a Democratic congress and a Republican as the executive. As Ms. Kearns-Goodwin noted, American politics today consists of simply rooting for the other side to fail. But if the other side fails, it's common knowledge that we all fail... or is it?
Presidential Historian and author of the new book “The Bully Pulpit,”
Doris Kearns Goodwin; Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-MD); co-author of
the new book “Double Down,” Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin; and host of
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and author of the new book “The Right Path,” Joe
Scarborough.
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