ADVENTURES OF A YES-WOMAN – AT 7:48 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton has now put her weight behind President Obama's opposition to any new sanctions on Iran.  From The Politico:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear she supports President Barack Obama’s call to allow the current negotiations over ending Iran’s nuclear development and that new sanctions being debated by Congress should be shelved while those talks take place, according to a late-January letter she wrote obtained by POLITICO.

Clinton made her views clear in a Jan. 26 missive sent to her former Senate colleague, Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan. It’s the first time that Clinton’s perspective on the current discussions have been laid out in detail.

Levin wrote to Clinton 10 days earlier, asking for her guidance as former Secretary of State on what effect new sanctions would have on the efforts to reach a comprehensive deal with Tehran.

“I share the opinion of you and many of your colleagues that these sanctions and the carefully constructed global consensus behind them are responsible for driving Tehran to the negotiating table. It was because sanctions worked that we are starting implementation of the Joint Plan of Action, an important step – though still only a first step – toward a comprehensive solution,” Clinton wrote in the letter.

“Now that serious negotiations are finally under way, we should do everything we can to test whether they can advance a permanent solution. As President Obama said, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed, while keeping all options on the table,” she wrote.

COMMENT:   Look, she had to say it.  What choice did she have?  Until Obama is off the stage, Hillary has to be the loyal soldier.  However, by endorsing Obama's policy, she becomes a part owner.  If it fails, Republicans will rightly go after her.  And, after all, she was Obama's secretary of state. 

Her wording, though, gives her some wiggle room.  She endorses sanctions, hoping the public will forget that the administration she served actually opposed the toughest of them.  She wants to keep "all options" on the table, making her sound tough...even though she knows Obama is determined to avoid the use of force. 

She's perfecting a balancing act, loyalty balanced with a careful independence.  It's a tough act.  It may not play if America loses this round, or more Americans are lost.

February 3,  2014