Obama to Iran and Israel: 'As President of the United States, I Don't Bluff'

The Atlantic ^ | 2 March 2012 | Jeffrey Goldberg

[ShadowAce]

Dismissing a strategy of "containment" as unworkable, the president tells me it's "unacceptable" for the Islamic Republic of Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

At the White House on Monday, President Obama will seek to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to postpone whatever plans he may have to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months. Obama will argue that under his leadership, the United States "has Israel's back," and that he will order the U.S. military to destroy Iran's nuclear program if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.

In the most extensive interview he has given about the looming Iran crisis, Obama told me earlier this week that both Iran and Israel should take seriously the possibility of American action against Iran's nuclear facilities. "I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff." He went on, "I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say."

The 45-minute Oval Office conversation took place less than a week before the president was scheduled to address the annual convention of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, and then meet, the next day, with Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. In the interview, Obama stated specifically that "all options are on the table," and that the final option is the "military component." But the president also said that sanctions organized by his administration have put Iran in a "world of hurt," and that economic duress might soon force the regime in Tehran...

[jesseam]

He is right when it comes to fulfilling his campaign pledge to fundamentally change the United States

[dmzTahoe]

He has a short memory... July 13, 2011

Republicans said tense negotiations over raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit at the White House ended when President Obama stormed out of the meeting with a stern warning to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): “Don’t call my bluff.”

I guess he only bluffs Americans.

[dmzTahoe]

So now he is bluffing about bluffing.

[chiefqc]

Well everyone knows by now that when mac adddies lips move and words come out whatever he says is just the oppisite of what he really means.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ShadowAce, additional:

• Friday Political Grab Bag: Obama To Israel, Iran -- 'I Don't Bluff'