IRAN RISING – AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  The CNN website is not my favorite place.  It's often a mess, with no intelligent route to navigation.  But now and then they come up with something good.  There's a piece running now showing how Iran has gained dramatically in the Mideast, with or without a nuclear weapon.  It's chilling:

Washington (CNN) Deal or no deal in the Iranian nuclear talks, Tehran is already behaving like it's made a killing.

Sure, U.S. and international sanctions inflicted staggering damage on Iran's economy, convincing the longtime American foe to join talks aimed at limiting its nuclear program. Those talks face an important Tuesday night deadline.

But it's not just Iran's nuclear aspirations that have everyone's attention -- though just the fact that Iranian officials are at the table with the world's most powerful countries has elevated Iran's international status.

Getting the bomb would greatly magnify its regional -- even global -- role, but Tehran is also making big moves in a tumultuous Great Game of Middle East geopolitics that is challenging U.S influence and prestige and chilling Washington's allies.

Right on.  Those allies are doubting Washington.  When you get doubted in power politics, you lose power by definition.  The allies start looking elsewhere.

As it engages on its nuclear program, Tehran has exploited the divisions of the Arab Spring and the power vacuum of America's downgraded involvement in the region. It has also taken advantage of the leeway the United States offered in prioritizing a nuclear deal over attempts to restrain Tehran's proxies that could risk breaking up the negotiations.

The result is that Iran -- often through militant groups it sponsors -- has become a key player in conflicts in neighboring states all the way to the edge of the Mediterranean.

Its drive for regional pre-eminence is becoming an increasing problem for the Obama administration as it contemplates selling a nuclear deal -- which is already drawing considerable skepticism -- to opponents in Congress and to anxious allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are watching Iran's maneuvering up close.

COMMENT:  Hey, I guess hope 'n' change didn't work out so well.  No hope left after the worst kind of change. 

Now it is up to the Republican Party to make the case that we must change parties in the White House.  I watched Marco Rubio on TV yesterday, and was impressed once again with how clearly he makes that case.  We have a good bench.  Let's not blow the thing.

Politics is a contact sport.  The worst thing you can do is give your opponent an even break.  Incompetent candidates don't help us.  Focusing on narrow social issues, even when we're in the moral right, take attention away from the great, existential issues of our time.   

March 31, 2015