April Fool

A self-imposed deadline for nuclear talks with Iran has come and gone. Like virtually every other commitment made by the Obama administration, we now learn that the deadline wasn't really a deadline, more like a ... well ... it wasn't a deadline. And that talks will continue until Obama's team of 2s capitulate sufficiently to mollify Iran—a true hegemon in the Middle East, a radical Islamic sponsor of terror on a worldwide scale and a bad actor in the region. It seems only appropriate that the deadline passed on April Fool's Day.

In fact, if one looks at this situation objectively, it almost seems like an April Fool's prank. Iran, a country that repeated and frequently shouts "Death to America" and espouses the annihilation of Israel, is now the target of a delusional rapprochement. "Pay no attention to what Iran says or does," suggest Obama's supporters, "if only we can give them enough, they'll change." But radical Islamists don't change—ever. Their world view is cemented in the seventh century, their intolerace of others is epic, their hatred of all things western is constant. They. Are. Bad. Actors.

But no matter, Barack Obama, says otherwise—and his great accomplishments in the Middle East over the last six years suggest that we should listen. Oh, wait, there haven't been any great accomplishments? Only disastrous failures, chaos, and the demonization of long time allies? No matter. We just have to walk through the looking glass.

The New York Observer comments:

Barack Obama has been compared to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who concluded the ill-fated Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938. But Chamberlain acted out of a sincere belief that he was avoiding a greater evil. Chamberlain was not thinking of his place in history. He was thinking only of the Britain that he loved, a Britain that was all but disarmed, exhausted, and vulnerable. He was dealing with a nation that had been decimated by the Great War, a nation whose “best and brightest” five years earlier had declared in the infamous Oxford Oath that they would not fight for king or country, and a nation that was as materially unprepared for war as Germany was prepared to fight. Chamberlain dealt from a position of weakness, one that Hitler continually exploited in the negotiations, even by changing the time and place to make it more inconvenient for the British leader to attend them.

In sharp contrast, Mr. Obama is acting out of personal aggrandizement. He believes he is replicating President Richard Nixon’s historic opening of China. For Mr. Obama, the Iranian nuclear arms deal is about his place in history. Mr. Obama is dealing from a position of strength that he refuses to use. The sanctions have hurt Iran. Falling oil prices only add to Iran’s vulnerability. Instead of using the sanctions to pursue his original promise that Iran would not get the bomb, Mr. Obama has moved the goal post. Iran would not get the bomb immediately. It would be permitted to enrich uranium well beyond the 5 percent need for generating nuclear energy and be left with a breakout capacity to create a bomb.

Meanwhile, Iran is refusing surprise inspections, the hallmark of any such agreement, and has ruled its military facilities, such as the enrichment plant at Fordo, off limits to any inspections, period. Iran continues to showcase public displays of Israel being obliterated by an Iranian nuclear bomb, and even in the midst of negotiations government-orchestrated mass rallies cry out, “Death to America.”

If Chamberlain possessed America’s strength and was dealing with Iran’s weakness, would he be negotiating as Mr. Obama is? Would he be more concerned about a Jew building an extra bedroom in Jerusalem than an Iranian building a bomb at Fordo?

Obama and his supporters do what they always do. They set up false choices and then condemn those who reject their argument. Make a very bad deal or go to war. This is dishonest in the extreme in that there are many other options short of war, some suggested in this blog. But that wouldn't be appropriate for Obama's legacy—so appease, capitulate, and suggest that a deal will be enforceable. Worse, suggest that it will preclude Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

April Fool!