Last edited Sat Mar 12, 2016, 11:51 PM - Edit history (3)
last August, and when the announcement was made that previous December. It is great that this is happening and hope that more progress will be made in the new relationship. His spokesman got grilled on that (it was spun as SOS Kerry suddenly canceled and not the real reason as to what happened...Your explanation that make sense). Also State PR needs to clarify the role he played in the Cuba-US normalization. Perception is that he (or the State Department) was annoyed?? (according to the NY "Negotiating the Whirlwind" story) about being left in the dark when talks had begun.
To be fair, Rhodes (who has been getting blame with Rice, Power, and HRC for Libya) and his partner deserve credit for all this happening, but WH, State, and Pentagon folks have to stop letting the DC media/pundits write that FP is all from the WH.
Long story short, Syria-The Middle East seems very, very messy. Kinda why I checked out of DU for a long, long, time. Ok, the "Mister Magoo" line about SOS Kerry was a bit harsh, but it was said (FYI, the Fisher dude used to work for WaPo, now Vox with Ezra Klein--semi P Obama critic).
Don't know what Mr. Goldberg's real agenda is, but it worked.
How did it work? Most Democrats (those that enthusiastically support POTUS/HRC) will not care about a red line or other diplomatic work that SOS Kerry did or has done (not to ever diss that 
. They just don't follow BTS diplomacy that closely at all.
What is taken from The Obama Doctrine is that Obama is a chess master at FP. (with Syria, Libya, Cuba, Iran deal, CC, etc). He is seen as a POTUS that doesn't want to get his hands dirty in FP matters (i.e. I-P peace talks), but will if Peace or a hopeful outcome is possible.
He takes the idea that some situations/crises may not be fixable---the old "we can't be the world's policemen" every time a foreign country has a crisis. That's why he (and Biden) is/are applauded and admired for all of the above.
That is what his FP legacy of "Don't Do Stupid S---" will be remembered for. Plus, he is on record for opposing a "dumb war" that his predecessor authorized, along with a crucial vote that haunts those to this day. That's how he is earning his 2009 NPP.
Don't know what will happen with the Syria Peace talks, a lot of complicated things, but we shall see.
I don't disagree with what you have said here, doing this article IMO was a bad idea. It opened up too many cans of worms.
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