Mitch McConnell does not want to shut down the government if he can possibly help it.

I think it made the U.S. look a little clumsy in its diplomacy. And I think it was a little embarrassing when the leader of the most powerful nation on earth was willing to meet and somebody else has basically snubbed him.

The larger picture is that the Obama administration actually deserved credit along with the Bush administration in bringing these sanctions to bear. And that's what's bringing President Rouhani to the table.

I do think that President Obama has got his own, you know, pressure back home. And that's going to be -- he's going to be under enormous pressure from both parties and from experts not to make concessions early.

Presidents need to be sort of very firm in their gut what they are about to do especially when they are going to pull the trigger.

It's extraordinarily muddled. The Middle East is a very, very complex place.

If we pull back now maybe it's the right thing. But are we not getting hurt strategically? A lot of countries will look at us and say, you know, those guys don't quite know what they're doing there.

Had he thought ahead, you know, international relations is like playing three-dimensional chess.

The members of Congress would have understood and they could have made their arguments in a longer term way.

Most recent poll came out today, shows support for intervention is 51 percent against, 36 percent for, the lowest support for intervention than anything gallop has polled in over 20 years.

There is not the confidence that the president has a firm grip on getting here and where he's going, and that is also a problem for him.