Though he doesn't see the perfect harmony between Hillary and Obama that has been advertised, Jim Hoagland doesn't think Hillary's "nuclear umbrella" quote was off-message, and adds this interesting nugget:
Israeli politicians immediately portrayed Clinton's remarks in Thailand as a weakening of the U.S. stance on Iran by suggesting that the Obama administration is looking at scenarios for living with a nuclear-armed Iran.
That goes too far. The president believes that Iran is developing a nuclear-weapons capability through its current U.N.-opposed uranium enrichment program, a senior official told me this month, and he will not accept Iran achieving the ability to make a bomb quickly from the stockpile it is accumulating.
Key European nations -- probably including Russia and Germany -- now believe the world will have to live with such an Iranian capability rather than take military action or impose harsh sanctions. That is a fault line far more important than any turf battles in Washington.
--Michael Crowley