New York Times Editorial, "Congress Gets in the Way": Given Obama's Success in Working with Congress, Let Him Strike a Deal with Iran

It's a pity we are never informed who writes specific New York Times editorials. Their latest editorial, "Congress Gets in the Way" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/opinion/congress-gets-in-the-way-on-iran.html), is a doozy.

The editorial begins by observing:

"Last week, just as Iran and the major powers made some small progress in talks and agreed to meet again, two measures were introduced in Congress that could harm negotiations."

"Some small progress"? The P5+1 accepts that Iran need not dismantle its underground Fordow facility without any concessions on the part of the mullahs, and this is deemed progress?

The editoral continues:

"The second measure, a bipartisan bill, would pile on tougher sanctions just as the two sides are trying to create trust after decades of hostility."

Iran is trying to build trust? And here all this time I thought that Iran was seeking to establish hegemony in the Middle East by building a bomb. Oh foolish me!

The editoral concludes:

"The best way to avert military conflict is by negotiating a credible, verifiable agreement. It is a very long shot. But Congress needs to give the talks time to play out and not make diplomatic efforts even harder."

Ah, yes. Obama has been busy talking with Iran almost five years without results, so let's cut this master negotiator even more slack. The problem, however, as observed by Times columnist Bill Keller in a recent op-ed (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/bill-keller-obamas-fault-yes-king-has.html), indeed involves Obama's negotiating skills:

"That year-end [2012] tax deal was not a negotiating triumph for the Democrats. Obama wanted $1.2 trillion in new revenues over 10 years. Boehner let it be known he would go as high as $800 billion. By the time the master deal-makers of the White House were done, the 'compromise' tax hike was $620 billion. I’d love to be the guy who sells the president his next car."

Unfortunately, the mullahs are far slicker and more deceptive than any car salesman, used or otherwise, that I ever met.

Just who is advising Obama today regarding negotiations with Iran? John (Assad is "my dear friend) Kerry? Chuck Hagel, who in the past opined that the US could find ways of working with Iran (see: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/14/chuck-hagel-thinks-the-united-states-could-work-with-iran-find-out-why-here/)?

Teddy Roosevelt had it right some 100 years ago: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." But this is hardly something that Obama and his cabinet of vapid white guys, comprising the worst and the dumbest, with no feel for Middle Eastern horse trading, would ever comprehend.