The president tries to sell the nuclear deal with rhetorical sleight-of-hand.

Prefatory Note: I have been preoccupied for many years with the multiple challenges posed by nuclear weapons, initially from the perspective of international law and morality, later with regard to prudence diplomacy and political survival in international relations, and in all instances, with an eye favoring deep denuclearization associated in my mind with an abiding abhorrence over the use of atomic bombs against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II and with the avoidance of any future use of nuclear weaponry or even threatened use.

Hoover Institution fellow Paul Gregory discusses his Forbes piece, “The Dirty Bomb: A Thwarted Putin False Flag Operation?” on the nationally syndicated John Batchelor Show.

The speech was mean-spirited and dishonest -- and may have been counterproductive.