Is President Barack Obama “staging a comeback in the eyes of the American people,” to quote from Politico? Probably not, replies the Weekly Standard’s Jay Cost. He lays out his arguments here.
Cost’s conclusion is one I share:
The macro trend, I would say, has essentially been flat for the last few months — as Americans have developed fairly stable opinions of the 44th president by this point that probably are not easily dislodged. In the long term, the way the president gets his numbers up will be to convince the country that he is a good steward of the economy, a view most of his fellow citizens do not hold at the moment. This is why the tax cut deal was such a sensible compromise for President Obama to make, despite the criticism he received from his left flank.
President Obama is certainly not mortally wounded. But he remains damaged — and the conditions of the country, not tactical legislative deals, will be the thing that most determines his political fate.
It’s not actually clear what difference it would make if Obama DID arrange to talk, without preconditions, to Iran.
That approach would certainly not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But neither would any approach that anyone else seriously proposes.
I will not find it reassuring that, when Iran detonates her first nuclear device, it will be center-Left pragmatists getting the phone calls in DC. Anyone could do that successfully, including far-Left fantasists. Once Iran has the bomb, center-Left pragmatists will be equal to far-Left fantasists in terms of the scope and limitations of their options for Middle East policy.
well, Obama might have some good advisers on what policy was hold with Iran.
A policy can’t be change in a day when it has been planned from such a long time.
The thing is the Iranians want this discussion, no matter who represents the US, they want to be dubed as ME arbiters, but the condition they pushed so far were not acceptable. May-be they’ll revisit their strategy, they often change it, but Obama mustn’t make the first steps, he will loose the face, and in front of the muslim world, he’ll be finished !!!