Mr. Obama, meet Mr. Rouhani

Talking is the only way to peacefully resolve disputes with Iran

September 25, 2013 | http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/dan-simpson/mr-obama-meet-mr-rouhani-704738/

By Dan Simpson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is difficult to imagine why President Barack Obama would not meet with the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, while both are in New York for the U.N. General Assembly this week.
The American right expresses concern that Mr. Obama might sell the farm and part of the river to the Iranian president. That reflects a monumental misunderstanding of how American foreign policy works.
Even if he wanted to, Mr. Obama couldn't undo in a Nixon-like China swoop 34 years of legislative and other barriers that the United States has put up in sanctions and other measures between America and Iran. The chances of Mr. Obama -- a man who spends most of his time arm-wrestling with the scaly denizens of Congress and the rest of "This Town" Washington -- being charmed into some kind of foolish deal by Mr. Rouhani are absolutely zero.