Bill Clinton shows us (U.S.) how it's done

I am personally all in favor of diplomacy, but between the badmouthing of diplomacy by the right and the "diplomacy by public pontification" of the left, it is all but extinct. Until yesterday, when former President Bill Clinton reminded everyone (by example) how it is done: in private. Private talks with no public pontification in advance that is likely to poison the actual talks.

Now, whether such private diplomacy will ever again be tolerated in a Washington that is obsessively focused on public pontification remains to be seen.

There is plenty of opportunity for working towards a "working relationship" with Iran, but it will take a lot of this "true" (private) dipomacy, especially when just about everybody is poised, itching to jump up and say something incredibly stupid  and counterproductive in public.

Hopefully such private "preparations" are already underway with Iran. But all of the incessant public babbling about "nuclear ambitions" and sanctions really is counterproductive and useless compared to true, private dipomacy.

-- Jack Krupansky