Obama Shouldn't Talk To Ahmadinejad

President Obama is reportedly reaching out to the Iranian regime. Why? Because he promised during the election that unconditional talks were not only acceptable but a good idea. Debatable. But okay, that's his position. The question is - how unconditional?

Wired is reporting that US fighter jets shot down an Iranian drone over Iraq;

An American fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone as it was flying over Iraq, U.S. military sources in Baghdad tell Danger Room.

Details of the previously-unreported shoot-down, which occurred last month, are still sketchy. But we do know that American commanders have long accused Tehran of supplying weapons and training to all sorts of Iraqi militant groups. Shi'ite militias fired Iranian rockets at U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the American military; Sunni militias allegedly used Iranian armor-piercing bombs to reduce U.S. vehicles to ribbons.

In early 2008, however, the torrent of Iranian weapons into Iraq slowed to a trickle, the U.S. said. And now, the new Obama administration is looking for ways to reach out to the Tehran regime -- dangling invitations to international conferences,
and offering promises of renewed relations.

Which means the drone incident comes at a particularly sensitive time.

Apparently it isn't all that sensitive. If the story is correct, then the President had to know about this last month, and still proceeded with trying to put feelers out to Iran to hold talks. So it doesn't matter that there is further tangible evidence that Iran is meddling in the Iraqi rebuilding effort and trying to consolidate it's regional power by undermining and potentially subjugating it's former enemy. It doesn't matter that Iran is still seeking to build nuclear warheads. Apparently nothing matters. Unconditional means unconditional.

Unlike the President, I'm speechless.

Lessons learned

Some advice Mr. President on dealing with foreign leaders over the coming years of your administration - take a cue from how well your supposedly bi-partisan approach has worked with Congressional and Senate Republicans - it hasn't. And it just goes to prove that you can't be friends with everybody, all of the time. Oh, sure you can pretend that everything will be cool and great while you are campaigning, but you are in the real world now Mr. President.

A press tour might convince people that you are reaching out, but it doesn't change the reality on the ground. Republicans, conservatives, don't like your ideas. Or Nancy's ideas. And so too, the majority of the public. They may not be keen on any particular alternative, but they know this stinkulus package is not the answer.

What's the lesson to be learned here? Well, there are several, but let's focus on the foreign policy learnings. Not everyone wants to be your friend Mr. President. And if you can't convince Republicans that they should just get along, how do you think that same approach will work any better with Chavez/Putin/Ahmadinejad/Jong Il?

And since I'm at it, let's add in a second learning - YOU WON. So guess what, no matter how hard you try to cover your 'bases', Republicans don't agree with this fiasco of a stinkulus package and you can't get them to buy in. THIS IS YOUR BABY. YOU OWN IT. Deal with it. If it fails, you get the blame. Why? Because YOU WON.

GOP - what's the take away for you? Gallup seems to be carrying Obama's water for him.

President Obama would appear to have the upper hand in the current focus on
Congress' efforts to pass a major economic stimulus bill. Not only does Obama
get much higher approval ratings for the way in which he is handling the
stimulus issue than do either the Democrats or, in particular, the Republicans
in Congress, but a majority of Americans agree with him that passing such a bill
is critically important for improving the nation's economy.

Somebody has got this wrong - Gallup or Rasmussen? No matter to the GOP. Hold your ground and if this bill passes without your buy in, which it will, and it goes down in flames as the most wasteful, ill-conceived idea EVER, which it will, you'll be in better shape for having stuck to your guns.