Neocons are happy with Obama’s Iran briefing

I dropped the ball on this. Last week Obama held a special briefing/seduction on Iran with a few influential columnists, among them Jeffrey Goldberg, in which he was typically vague, but offered hawkish hints, no further diplomacy, nothing off the table. Two friends’ takes:

The Leveretts are very solid, at Huffpo, on his recent meeting with journalists; their rough picture of Obama on Iran at present:

Stance–lofty/managerial. Style: oversubtle. Preparation: badly informed and
relying on incompetent sources. Tone: Good and friendly but vague.

Tony Karon, in The National, says all the signals were domestic, and he does what journalists are supposed to do, and follows the money:

The Economist’s Peter David said Mr Obama “unveiled no new policy” and stressed the “options on the table”. Pressed to elaborate, Amanpour quoted Mr Obama: “I’m not going to issue any public red lines. Iran should understand when I say we have all options on the table. I’m not going to announce any particular red lines at a meeting like this.”

A “meeting like this”, in other words, may not have been directed at the Iranians at all. US administrations have learnt that the best way to enlist key members in the media to sell their policies is to seduce them with privileged access, distinguishing them from the quotidian scrum at the daily White House press briefing.

By that measure, it seems to have worked a treat: the long-time neoconservative thinker Robert Kagan criticised dovish commentators he said were clutching at straws over Mr Obama’s comments about further talks. Administration officials at the meeting “made perfectly clear – in a half-dozen artful formulations – that, no, there was no new diplomatic initiative in the offing,” Kagan said…

While foreign policy is unlikely to be a major focus for voters, Republicans have been pummelling the administration for being soft on Iran. And key Democrats have warned that the perception that Mr Obama is insufficiently responsive to Israel’s concerns is hurting their ability to raise funds.