McCain is Right on Talking to Iran

I think it is Obama who is "naive and irresponsible" when he believes that he can jawbone Iran without preconditions.

McCain rejected the naive comment, saying Obama should have known better, and added: "Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel 'a stinking corpse,' and arms terrorists who kill Americans, will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional neetings will advance our interests."

The trick that Obama needs to learn is you have to have a "stern public face to Iran" while acting behind the scenes through covert back channels. He should know that you give legitimacy a regime that wants to destroy our ally by meeting them with your public face and with no preconditions. It also ties the hands of your back channel people and freezes out other nations that have better standing with the rogue regime.

Also with any meeting that goes badly you have the potential to look weak when only strength is respected. Obama just needs to adjust the preconditions and state them clearly through the back channel. If Iran turns down the "destroy Israel" language and then proves that the nuclear program is peaceful then we will sit down and hash out a deal together. This is the Khadaffi method. Or the US could simply wait for the Mullahs to die of old age (or be ousted) and then we sit down and hash out a deal with the future leaders of Iran in a decade or so. This is the Arafat method.