When I first read that the State Department was sending  William Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, to attend a meeting with the European Unions' policy chief and Iran's nuclear negotiator, I wondered if this might redound to the benefit of Barack Obama who has advocated outreach towards Iran. The risk was that he cam claim that George Bush was now following the Obama policy. However, as I gave the news more consideration, I realized that Barack Obama might be the one who pays the price, politically speaking, for this meeting. For years, we have heard liberal critics castigate Bush for refusing to extend diplomatic outreach to Iran (in fact, there has been contact). Barack Obama has made this a plank of his foreign policy program. Others have rebutted this criticism by pointing out  that our allies have been meeting with the Iranians for years-to no avail-during which Iran continued to sponsor violence throughout the region and continued on the road...(Read Full Post)