Pres. Obama works to sway critics of Iran nuclear deal
President Obama tries to win over skeptics in Congress as battle lines form over the nuclear deal with Iran. CNN #39;s Jim Acosta reports.
By: CNN
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Pres. Obama works to sway critics of Iran nuclear deal - Video
The Big Bad Debate, Ep. 4: George W. Bush vs. Barack Obama
Which president is worse, in your opinion? Is it George W. Bush or Barack Obama? Feel free to fire off your opinion in the comments section below.
By: Kevin Thomas Anderson
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The Big Bad Debate, Ep. 4: George W. Bush vs. Barack Obama - Video
With a framework deal to halt Tehran's nuclear program, Obama moved closer to the kind of staggering diplomatic breakthrough with the Islamic Republic that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
If the political agreement reached in Switzerland turns into a genuine pact honored by both sides, Obama will be entitled to a place in history as the leader who defused an intensely bitter estrangement with Iran.
READ: What's in the Iran nuclear deal? 6 key points
But he also took personal ownership of a fraught negotiating process full of false starts and deep divisions, one that hinges on the sides' ability to hammer out a host of devilish details by a June 30 final deadline in the face of vocal opposition from domestic and international critics.
If the deal falls apart, it will be hard to refute charges by critics that Obama's insistence on negotiating directly with U.S. enemies -- a tactic at the heart of his political philosophy -- is deeply naive and futile.
The risks of Obama's choice, and the challenge of resolving tough issues to get to a final agreement by July, were clear within minutes of news breaking that a deal was reached in Lausanne.
Obama quickly appeared in the White House Rose Garden, not for the victory lap that presidents often take in this picturesque spot, but to launch an impassioned defense of the contentious deal.
His sales pitch was concise: There is no other better way to prevent Iran from moving covertly to build a nuclear weapon.
"When you hear the inevitable critics of the deal sound off, ask them a simple question: Do you really think that this verifiable deal, if fully implemented, backed by the world's major powers, is a worse option than the risk of another war in the Middle East?" Obama said.
"Is it worse than doing what we've done for almost two decades with Iran moving forward with its nuclear program and without robust inspections?"
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Obama ties his legacy to Iran
Story highlights Frida Ghitis: President Barack Obama is right to want a deal, but this one gives Iran too much She says the framework agreement starts lifting Iran sanctions much too soon
Obama's political standing and his historic legacy in foreign policy are so deeply intertwined with reaching an accord with Iran that if the deal ultimately collapses, he may fear that historians will conclude that his legacy in global affairs collapsed with it.
There is a reason one gets the feeling that it is the United States and not Iran that is the more eager, even desperate, side in these talks, even though Iran is the country whose economy was sent into a deep chill by international sanctions; the country whose only significant export, oil, lost more than half of its value in recent months. The reason is that Obama has a huge political stake in these negotiations.
The President may insist that the United States will choose no deal over a bad deal, but few people truly believe he has a credible Plan B. Few believe it, particularly in the Middle East and notably among America's Arab friends, who hold the view that Iran is running circles around the United States and outplayed Obama.
As the writer David Rothkopf aptly put it, "Iran is having a great Obama administration."
That's a belief that has already started shaking up the region. Saudi Arabia has said that it will pursue nuclear weapons if it believes Iran has not been stopped, and there is little doubt that other countries among Iran's Muslim rivals will do the same. In fact, the notion that Obama is not handling the Iranian threat effectively is contributing to a new war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and other Arabs are trying to push back against gains by Iran's allies.
We can trace it all back to the Democratic primaries in 2007, when then-Sen. Obama said he would meet Iran's leaders "without preconditions," leading his rival, Hillary Clinton, to call the idea "Irresponsible and frankly naive." As the years of his presidency unfolded, and the Middle East started coming apart, finding a deal with Iran started to look like the one major foreign policy achievement Obama might leave behind.
The political imperative started to intrude in strategic considerations on an issue that is of transcendent importance to world peace.
The framework agreement announced on Thursday came two days after Obama's March 31 deadline. The U.S.-imposed deadline served only to pressure the United States, and the French ambassador very publicly decried as a "bad tactic."
That bad tactic was a political move, a push to produce some sort of result, however vague, to protect the talks from critics.
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Why Obama desperately wants Iran deal
How will Obama sell Iran nuclear deal to the world?
CBS News correspondents Major Garrett, and Nancy Cordes, join CBSN to discuss President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry #39;s remarks on the nuclear deal with Iran.
By: CBSN
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How will Obama sell Iran nuclear deal to the world? - Video