Domestic politics would be bad for Obama

Submitted by Mike Ster (United States), Aug 25, 2015 at 20:36

Mr. Pipes -

I disagree with your political assessment. If Iran rejects the deal it doesn't make his opponents here look foolish. It makes him look ridiculous. He has spent an inordinate amount of time getting a deal that is terribly unpopular. If it turns out that he so badly misread Iranian intentions, he is going to look like an idiot, especially after all of his victory laps and his excoriating of his opponents, including (especially) those in his own party.

You suggest that Iran's rejection will prove that Obama's contention that US opponents are allied with Iranian hardliners misses the central point, I think. We want the deal to fail, bottom line. How Obama's image would improve following the failure of his "signature" foreign policy agreement isn't quite clear to me.

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