The journalists at CBS This Morning on Friday fawned over the woman who negotiated Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, the same person who worked for the Clinton State Department. Asking Wendy Sherman no tough questions, the hosts instead wondered how Sherman’s skills could be used in the everyday lives of Americans.
Ignoring problems with the deal, Norah O’Donnell cheered: “Iran reportedly is still allowing inspections and complying with the nuclear agreement it signed in 2015, even after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal.” The co-host enthused: “But first for someone who has negotiated deals with Iran, what can we learn from your career about everyday type of negotiations we may have.”
Co-host John Dickerson offered this softball to Sherman: “Give us what it is like to negotiate with the North Koreans who you spent a lot of time with and who are very much in the news today.”
No mention, of course, of Politico's blockbuster expose from 2017 that revealed Barack Obama secretly released 21 Iranian prisoners (not the seven originally claimed), men who were deeply involved in Iran’s missile and nuclear program. The author of that Politico piece, Josh Meyer, explained on Fox News: “Many of these guys were high on the list of U.S. counter-proliferation effort to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.”
The news that the Obama administration sabotaged efforts to damage the financial operations of the Hezbollah terrorist group in order to secure the Iran nuke deal? Not mentioned.
Instead, the hosts fawned over Sherman's new book. O’Donnell introduced:
Her new book is Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons of Courage, Power and Persistence. She explains how people can apply what she learned in high stakes negotiations to get what they want in everyday life
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
8/31/18
8:34
NORAH O’DONNELL: Iran reportedly is still allowing inspections and complying with the nuclear agreement it signed in 2015, even after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal. Ambassador Wendy Sherman spent four years negotiating with Iran and world leaders on the nuclear accord. Even powering through several minor injuries during the process. She also worked for the Clinton State Department where she was a policy coordinator on Nouth Korea.
The distinguished diplomat started her career as a social worker. Her new book is Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons of Courage, Power and Persistence. She explains how people can apply what she learned in high stakes negotiations to get what they want in everyday life. We love this. Sherman has just been appointed the new director of the Harvard Kennedy School for Public Leadership. Good morning.
WENDY SHERMAN: Good morning, Norah.
O’DONNELL: And congratulations on that appointment. Very exciting.
SHERMAN: Thank you very much.
O’DONNELL: There is a lot to talk to. I want to get to Iran and North Korea stuff in just a minute. But first for someone who has negotiated deals with Iran, what can we learn from your career about every day type of negotiations we may have.
SHERMAN: I think that what I want people to understand is that to do a good negotiation, to really be a good diplomat, you need courage, you need to be able to persist, you need to understand you have to have a team around you.
...
O’DONNELL: You write about negotiating during the Iran deal. You write about crying at one point, even because one off-hand comment that you made led to “death to Wendy Sherman” chants in the streets of Iran. I think about being authentic because I thought about what you wrote in the book and you have to watch what you say because it can be incredibly dangerous.
...
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about - the ability diplomats need to have to to read the person across the table. Often from another culture. Give us what it is like to negotiate with the North Koreans who you spent a lot of time with and who are very much in the news today.
...
O’DONNELL: You've been to North Korea?
SHERMAN: That is right.
JERICKA DUNCAN: And when we were reporting there, Our government monitor said we all want denuclearization in North Korea but every one to play by the same rules. is there a difference, Wendy, quickly if you could, between how North Koreans view denuclearization and how Americans?
DICKERSON: Ambassador Wendy Sherman, thanks so much. The book is Not For the Faint of Heart.
