Pirate's Cove

I wish that headline was a joke or over-the-top Conservative rhetoric. Alas, no, as the NY Times tells us

Obama Urges ‘Creative’ Talks to Bridge Divide With Iran on Sanctions

President Obama on Friday directed his diplomats to use “creative negotiations” to bridge a sharp divide with Iran over the fate of sanctions if it agrees to curb its nuclear program, signaling flexibility in hopes of keeping a tentative agreement from unraveling.

Their “creative negotiations” have so far brought forth a deal that, according to the Obama administration, as rather favorable to Iran. According to Iran, it is super favorable to Iran, and does virtually nothing to stop their slow march towards nuclear weapons while immediately removing all sanctions.

Iranian leaders have insisted in recent days that the punishing sanctions be lifted as soon as a written accord is signed, a position that the country’s foreign minister reinforced on Friday. Mr. Obama did not repeat past American assertions that sanctions would be removed only in phases as Tehran follows through on obligations to scale back its nuclear facilities.

Instead, Mr. Obama suggested that negotiators seek a solution that would seem “more acceptable” to Iran’s political constituencies, while preserving leverage to force the government to abide by the deal. Rather than the timing and structure of sanctions relief, he said his priority was creating a system for reimposing the punitive measures if Iran is caught cheating.

This is what’s called “negotiating from a position of weakness.” It’s like a moped negotiating with a loaded 18 wheeler. At 60 miles an hour. In the rain. And the moped driver forgot to wear their prescription glasses.

“How sanctions are lessened, how we snap back sanctions if there’s a violation, there are a lot of different mechanisms and ways to do that,” Mr. Obama said at a White House news conference alongside the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi. The negotiators, Mr. Obama said, need to “find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable.”

“Our main concern here is making sure that if Iran doesn’t abide by its agreement, that we don’t have to jump through a whole bunch of hoops in order to reinstate sanctions,” Mr. Obama continued. “That’s our main concern.”

With Secretary of State John Kerry seated in front of him in the East Room, the president said: “And it will require some creative negotiations by John Kerry and others. And I’m confident we will be successful.”

Perhaps had this been negotiated in the first place, they wouldn’t need “creative negotiations” now. Perhaps if they had laid down the law, which is what France was pushing for (think on that one for a moment), there wouldn’t be a need for “creative negotiations” now. It does make one wonder just how much Obama and his administration where lying/fabricating the terms of the deal to the American public and Congress. Good thing Team Obama will now patronize Iranian constituencies.

Crossed at Right Wing News.