i think the obama administration was right. they have had greater success in getting a greater amount of sanctions. the point at which i find it to be less important is it's not bringing us closer to a resolution. i think the biggest mistake from the u.s. side was once the turks and brazilians managed to intervene and negotiate with iran and get them to put their signature on a deal, the obama administration was so deep into its -- >> what brazilian deal? >> i explain this in detail in the book. they negotiated with iranians and got them to agree to a deal that was following the same benchmarks as the deal the u.s. put on the table a couple of months earlier. at that point, the iranians did not come and give a yes to the proposal. a couple of months later, some things had changed. but the bottom line is that deal called the tehran declaration, followed a letter the president sent to the leaders of brazil and turkey only three weeks later. but by that time the obama administration was so deep into the sanctions drive, two days b

you know what the obama administration has already done a modest opening to burma a very very modest opening to north. gloria the president doesn't have a lot of political capital that he doesn't want to waste it initiatives that might appear from republican critics to be appeasement so appeasing china appeasing north korea peace in burma he doesn't want to get into a situation in which you there's eventually now especially in the lead up to the elections where you their congress or the republican candidates can say we told you we told you this guy likes to sit down with dictators we would have none of that if we were president does that mean that the u.s. is changing its strategy in that region in the i mean in the middle east and in strategy in general not just in middle east you know i think the obama administration is have a. pretty clear trajectory for the last three years it's tried to extricate the united states from the worst kind of legacies of the previous administration primarily in iraq but also looking ahead in afghanistan but at the same time dealing with what has been

, the obama administration. if you change your policies, so will we. that was a critical opening, and i've been told by people within the iranian national security council that it was fully cleared, authorized, and thought through. it was a major strategic error that we did not pursue serious, sustained diplomacy with the islamic republic of iran. president obama has brought us closer to the brink of conflict with iran than even the bush administration did. >> we're going to come back. when we come back, i will let bret stephens respond, but we will also talk about how this is all going to end. and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. [ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. >>> we are back talking about iran and the dangers and opportunities w

the obama administration opposed palestinian initiatives in the u.s. going after statehood continued military support of israel doff basically when netanyahu refused to do anything on the settlements issue again there's been some aspirational language what the united states would like to happen in solving the arab israeli disputes but generally speaking there has been no transformation of the united states remains firm of israel the republican candidates are thinking well there are two constituencies we want to reach out to one are evangelicals evangelicals who have very strongly said that we stand with israel and the others jewish voters who if they can peel them away from obama would be a great crew in the two thousand and twelve election i mean could you elaborate a little bit more about that specially with the g.o.p. presidential candidates right now and it was specially after what you said that obama has done everything to what seems to be appeasing israel yeah the candidates the g.o.p. candidates are saying that he has not done enough that's righ

the way or the other take more harker's positions in the current obama administration sure there's a general consensus there too so i don't think there's a lot of differences between the republican plan or i mean santorum comes from a completely different school than mitt romney and ron paul. they certainly do they're appealing though to some of the same voters and i think in a general election we of course would see the republican candidate move toward the center in order to get as much of the center and independent votes as possible but right now during the primaries they're pretty much going to be clustered around the same kind of positions and they're running against the obama administration and there isn't a lot of difference between them we've seen their positions we've heard their positions on countries like iran right now way which is the hot spot what role do you think they foreign policy play in their campaign right now to be honest foreign policy doesn't play much of a role in part because the obama administration has taken foreign policy off the table certainly national s

, the obama administration. if you change your policies, so will we. that was a critical opening, and i've been told by people within the iranian national security council that it was fully cleared, authorized, and thought through. it was a major strategic error that we did not pursue serious, sustained diplomacy with the islamic republic of iran. president obama has brought us closer to the brink of conflict with iran than even the bush administration did. >> we're going to come back. when we come back, i will let bret respond and we'll talk about the next step. white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. when i'm out wit

for being soft on iran when fact he's calling for the exact same thing that the obama administration is already doing but more importantly the media needs to follow up and correct these kinds of mistakes counter aggressive foreign policy statements with facts i mean in an ideal world they should counter every untrue statement it's made on a debate stage with facts but well we all know they don't do that and we all know that there are especially lots of the details when it comes to foreign policy and military exercises but hello people we can't afford not to correct those kinds of mistakes did you learn nothing from iraq from the war that was based on lies that the media overwhelmingly supported and that was shocked when it turned out that there were no w m d's to begin with if anything iraq should have been a turning point for the mainstream media in this country should have been a moment where collectively the press said never again but unfortunately it wasn't now maybe they've all forgotten maybe they're just too lazy maybe they're too scared to question tough foreign policy talk b

he's not responsible. >> bill: so it's a 2.3 under the obama administration? >> correct. >> bill: all right. >> and the idea is that in addition to that, the michigan -- the state government of michigan, which is already foundering under the weight of debt, throws in another $600 million. >> bill: so they threw in on top of it. so now we're over $3 billion? >> correct. >> bill: of taxpayer money, federal and michigan people. >> but the good news is, general motors has built and sold over 7,000 of these cars. >> bill: 7,000. all right. this is sadistic. >> it is. what are we to do but laugh at this madness? >> bill: the volt costs 40 grand. if you buy one, you get a $7,500 tax credit, you can take off the tax. >> throw that in there, too. >> bill: so why aren't people buying volts like crazy? >> because the market had nothing to do with the decision on the part of general motors. they're not meeting demand. they're meeting a decision by a federal government. >> bill: if it's 40 grand play with $7,500 credit, why not buy it? >> 32 five t, it doesn't work. >> bil

. >>> next on "this week in defense news," a glimpse at the obama administration's efforts to improve national cyber security, plans to cut >>> welcome to "this week in defense news," i'm vago muradian. two weeks after unveiling its new defense strategy, the obama administration announced plans to withdraw some 7000 troops from europe. what does that mean for nato and european defense? and we take a closer look at the capabilities iran is developing to keep u.s. forces out of the persian gulf. but, first, a new cyber security strategy is emerging in washington. the obama administration is wrestling with how far it should go in defining national standards, not just for federal agencies, but also for critical infrastructure that's privately owned like power plants, transportation, data and financial services. the process is being led by the national security agency and builds on a document drafted two years ago that defines 20 critical cyber controls. now the secret event is working on a plan to require private industry to better protect itself from cyber threats. joining us now to expl

administration since coming in continuing the bailout of wall street cutting the wages of workers as done everything on behalf of wall street and they have rewarded him by making sure that his campaign has received millions and millions of dollars his top officials have been drawing directly from wall street including his last three chief of staff to the white house so this again is a is an indication that this entire political structure it's not just the democrats democrats and republicans alike are thoroughly impervious to the needs of the population they are in the pockets of the wealthiest one percent and no fundamental change is possible in america outside of a political movement of the working class from below that's in opposition to this entire political and economic order jerome as always when you're running for office it's always good to have someone else to blame for the problems above are also blamed in the america's economic troubles on some of its competitors for not playing by the rules what do they mean by that. well this is an interesting point because you have the un

the obama administration is denying a report from an iranian lawmaker who claimed that president obama sent a secret letter to iran's supreme leader calling for direct talks with iran and warning tehran against closing a strategic waterway. the obama administration says communications of the united states' views are being delivered through other diplomatic messages. again the obama administration denying this report out of iran. >>> and president obama may be at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to his super pac. listen to this. politico is reporting the president's super pac priorities raised just $5 million in the first half of last year, that is less than half of the $12 million raised by romney's super pac restore our future. deputy political director park murray joins us live. this article points out the president has mot wanted to smooze with some of these super rich people who can swoop and give millen coz the super pacs. but his advise advisers are looking at the effectiveness when romney needed help bringing down gingrich. >> the fact that you end up having donor who's cou

republicans in congress are preparing for battle.this time, over the the obama administration's decision to reject a bid to expand the controversial keystone oil sands pipeline."the american people are still asking a question, "where are the jobs?" and here the president haa the oppurtunity to create 20,000 direct jobs and over 100,000 direct jobs and he &psays no."the project would have carried crude from canada's oil sands ...to the texas gulf coastbut the obama administration says a deadline imposed by congress did not give enough time to study the environmental impact of the 17- hundred mile-long pipeline. concerns were raised in nebraska that the proposed route would enganger a sensitive aquifer below the state's sand hills region."it was the voices of the rancherss and the farmees who said, wait a second this pipeline is too risky.""because of concerns expressed by numerous republican governor of nebraska - it was decided that an alternate route through nebraska was necessary. the choosing of that alternate route has not even been completed yet." "stop the pipeline. yes we ccn!"the

why the obama administration's new rules on sales along the u.s. border are likely to stick around. also, the death of a nuclear scientist sparks new tensions with iran. up next, we'll speak with a retired four star general on how the u.s. can try to calm the waters. >> we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz. and that's a red line. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual,

is changing its strategy in that region and no i think the obama administration is pretty clear trajectory for the last three years it's tried to extricate the united states from the worst kind of legacies of the previous administration primarily in iraq but also looking ahead in afghanistan but at the same time dealing with what has been considered a key issue and that is counterterrorism and the perception that democrats are weak on national defense issues and so the president has been very careful to say hey you know we will go to war if necessary and we will use force when necessary so i think this balance will continue for the remainder of his term thank you very much for joining us in our. when an uncomfortable question leads to a grave accusation the world who is more is you know far away. the president who isn't supposed to hide anything. or it's someone asking him why do you make a secret out that when the powers to be suppress the voice of those who think different. when you get experiencing very serious problems off of the saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and

the obama administration put a crackdown on it. what do you make of that? >> greg: weird. you figure people in the obama administration would stop the bush administration doing something like that. everybody says they do it in the public best interest but it's baloney. they do it for themselves. if you look at the san assange f the world he now has a talk show on russia today. that's what they want. he wants notoriety. he wants a book deal. i could never be an agent. i talk to much, especially when i drink. i would be the worst spy. >> bob: is that the guy that leaked the classified documents? >> dana: yes. >> bob: i went on your show and said black operation, take the guy out. i got more heat from that around the world. >> eric: take out bradley manning who leaked it to him. >> bob: whoever i was after. >> andrea: there is a difference between reporter leaking it and someone like julian assange, not an american citizen. the debate pops up often. reporters publishing information they hear. do they want to sell papers? we have to je

administration we're now an author and scholar noam chomsky believes the obama administration has changed gears and accelerated illegal practice into overdrive. between bush's policies and obama's. push bush's policy was to kidnap people. whatever you thought about them. put them to guantanamo or some other torture to number. of information obama supporters just kill. killing them all over the world. another is the targeting drone killing of and were a lock and american born cleric u.s. drone strikes during obama's first two years in office exceeded the total carried out during bush's tenure president obama described a walky as the leader of external operations for all qaeda in the arabian peninsula human rights groups which voiced international opposition against bush counterterrorism policies quickly condemned the killing journalist jeremy scahill says obama's policies have drifted far from his political roots a president mccain doing the exact same thing that a president obama is doing would have been denounced by a lot of liberals and so we're at one of those dangerous moments in u.s.

if there is a euro zone crisis it is going to affect the obama administration. the problem is we are no longer in a cold war scenario, world war ii scenario, we are in the era of global competition. china is not our enemy, it is our competitor. brazil is not our enemy, these are competitors. >> right. >> we have to increase our competitive nature. general jones thought that one of the biggest dangers general jones the former national security. >>> and former chairman of the counsel. >> former marine commander of europe, thought one of the greatest challenges facing the transatlantic unit in the united states was our noncompetitiveness. this is a national security threat every built as important as weapons of mass destruction. >> let's go to the question whether or not europe is in a terminal decline. some say the growth rates aren't there there is going to be a long catastrophe for europe. what is your state going to be for the decade? >> we have a double crisis of the west. meaning both the united states and europe at the same time are in a certain degree of cr

i think the obama administration is serious about reopening some sort of negotiations with tehran and i just hope that iran realizes that and is conducive to and ultimately except for the regime of those negotiations let's look at the way that the sanctions even on iran's oil are necessarily working out are we succeeding we haven't really succeeded in convincing all that much of the world to go along here with this and you know even iran is coming out and saying exactly the same thing that we. i have no problem selling oil to anybody will just find new customers you know that china and other actors out there are still going to be interested and at the end of the day does it come down to that but your story does have too much oil and it's not worth it for your opening to individual ye the abominated sanctions i don't think they war i think they're terrible they hurt the people and not the rulers but in this case i do think that the combination of things that the european union the united states and others have orchestrated to at this point and i'm getting this from iranians is hurting