WHAT’S GOING ON WITH IRAN?….Am I off base, or is it sort of weird that there’s been so little followup to the news that the Bush administration plans to open an “interests section” in Tehran? None of the big U.S. newspapers has so much as mentioned this story yet, which either means they don’t think it’s a big deal (unlikely) or that not a single one of them has been able to confirm the original Guardian report (also unlikely). Over at The Corner, where I figured they’d be going ballistic, the news has been met with nothing more than a shrug.
Now, sure, an interests section is not an embassy (we already have one in Cuba, for example), but this would still be a pretty stunning turnaround, wouldn’t it? Especially since the rapprochement appears to be mutual. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has indicated he’s open to a U.S. proposal and an Iranian spokesman later confirmed that Iran is open to direct talks. How cordial! So why the radio silence?
At the very least, shouldn’t the talking heads be talking about the political implications of this news? Barack Obama favors direct talks with Iran and John McCain doesn’t, and now here comes George Bush apparently clearing the deck for direct talks. So what does McCain do now? He’ll tap dance a bit, of course, claiming that Bush is not doing precisely what Obama proposed (which is true), but he’s certainly moving in that direction. Doesn’t this cut McCain’s legs out from under him? Doesn’t it make Obama look more prescient and presidential? Shouldn’t this at a minimum be a fascinating topic for fact-free cable news speculation and talk radio bloviation? I think so!
