http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/07/pen_palling_with_the_ayatollah_obama_letter_iran_khamenei

Pen-Palling With the Ayatollah

Only ideologues and the ignorant don't understand that Obama's letter to Khamenei is just pragmatic politics.

• BY Trita Parsi
• NOVEMBER 7, 2014

If wearing a tan suit at a press conference is enough to bring on a deluge of criticism, President Barack Obama probably shouldn't be surprised that sending a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made some heads spin. That's too bad. Obama's letter to Khamenei just points out the obvious: that Iran and the United States share a common interest in defeating the Islamic State and that real cooperation cannot take place until the nuclear issue is resolved.
The real outrage is that communicating with key players in the Middle East in order to advance U.S. security is still considered outrageous in far too many policy and political circles in Washington. The "outrage" Sen. John McCain has expressed reminds us why the American public over and over again has rejected Obama's foreign-policy vision.  http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/07/pen_palling_with_the_ayatollah_obama_letter_iran_khamenei Pen-Palling With the Ayatollah Only ideologues and the ignorant don't understand that Obama's letter to Khamenei is just pragmatic politics. BY Trita Parsi NOVEMBER 7, 2014 If wearing a tan suit at a press conference is enough to bring on a deluge of criticism, President Barack Obama probably shouldn't be surprised that sending a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made some heads spin. That's too bad. Obama's letter to Khamenei just points out the obvious: that Iran and the United States share a common interest in defeating the Islamic State and that real cooperation cannot take place until the nuclear issue is resolved. The real outrage is that communicating with key players in the Middle East in order to advance U.S. security is still considered outrageous in far too many policy and political circles in Washington. The "outrage" Sen. John McCain has expressed reminds us why the American public over and over again has rejected Obama's foreign-policy vision.