Pirate's Cove

Provided it, you know, actually happens. As there is a wide difference in what each side wants.

‘Distrust and Verify’: How Obama will sell an Iran deal to America, Congress and the world

The White House is gearing up to unleash an unprecedented campaign to sell a nuclear deal with Iran, should President Obama secure it, in a bid to win over divided Americans, skeptical lawmakers and wary Middle Eastern allies.

The blueprint for defending the legacy-defining agreement was described to Yahoo News by current and former officials from the administration and Congress.

Obama and his top national security and foreign policy aides will defend the deal forcefully to the public and in private talks with wavering senators and representatives. They will emphasize the deal’s intrusive monitoring and verification of Iranian nuclear facilities, an approach national security adviser Susan Rice recently summarized in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as “distrust and verify.” They will defend the easing of crippling economic sanctions in return for steps Iran is taking to assure the world that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

Lawmakers will get “as many classified briefings as it takes” from the administration on the more complex aspects of an agreement. Senior diplomats will fan out in an effort to reassure close allies like Saudi Arabia, Iran’s main rival for regional influence, and Israel, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen as an implacable foe of any agreement.

One has to wonder, if the deal is so good, what need is there for a massive PR campaign?

Obama’s approach will, at times, feel more like a sledgehammer than a scalpel — as demonstrated last Wednesday when the National Security Council forwarded the cartoon above to reporters who cover the White House. The drawing landed in reporters’ inboxes under the heading “Select Iran Coverage”; the special clips packages started landing in early March to promote media coverage and expert commentaries that advance the administration’s goals.

Cartoon, huh?

Nothing like insulting those you want to convince, eh?

Already the campaign is revving up. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough delivered some of these arguments this week in a speech to J Street, a left-of-center group that supports the talks. The organization’s ideological rival, the AIPAC, opposes the negotiations.

If a deal is done, McDonough said, “Everyone from the president on down will aggressively seek congressional and public support for any deal.”

Of course, hardcore liberals will approve of the deal no matter what, so this is preaching to the snake handling disciples already. If this was looking to be a great deal, there would be no need for any PR blitz.  That there are already plans for one, including getting the other member nations involved….Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia…to win over “skeptics”, should tell you that this deal might have a few good points, but there are lots of bad points, much like with the way Democrats blitzed on Obamacare.

Crossed at Right Wing News.