Peter Beinart: Iran Deal Will Be Obama’s ‘Signature Foreign Policy Initiative’

BEINART: "I think it's important to note that while Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly called Iran an existential threat, several high-ranking officials and former officials in the Israeli security establishment have said, in fact, that's not true, that while they see Iran's potential nuclear weapon as a threat, they don't believe it's an existential threat to Israel, it's not a threat to Israel's survival. Israel is, after all, a country with a couple hundred nuclear weapons. Why are those nuclear weapons there but for deterrence, to deter any country that could develop a nuclear weapon from using it? And I think that's the perspective many in the Israeli security establishment see this through."
SMERCONISH: "Final question. Was Prime Minister Netanyahu of benefit to the Americans in this negotiation? I know you paid such close attention to what was going on in Switzerland and elsewhere. Was there a good cop/bad cop routine that Secretary Kerry was able to play out?"
BEINART: "It's a good question. it's hard to really know. I don't know enough about the thinking on the Iranian side to know that. What I do know is that I think Benjamin Netanyahu has actually made it easier for Barack Obama to sell this deal at home. He has made the fight over this deal so partisan that I think he's made it harder for Democrats to ultimately oppose Barack Obama on what will be the signature foreign policy initiative of his administration and it is Democrats that the opponents of this deal need if they're going to override an Obama veto. I think Netanyahu has actually made that prospect harder."