HILLARY TALKS TOUGH TO IRAN - AT 6:27 P.M. ET:  I don't know if this is part of the good cop/bad cop routine, but Hillary Clinton is talking tough these days - first to the Palestinians, now to the Iranians.  This doesn't sound like Obama talking.

Or, maybe Hillary is realizing what side her bread is buttered on, and wants to come off as tough, the better to leave the administration and run for the top job again someday, with a record that can appeal to the broad middle, not just the left.  She is insisting that Iran take the nuclear deal on the table, as AP reports:

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the nuclear offer to Iran, intended to restrain its potential for making a nuclear weapon, should be fully accepted by Iran and will not be changed.

''This is a pivotal moment for Iran,'' she said at a news conference after consulting with senior government officials from several Persian Gulf nations, plus Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.

''We continue to press the Iranians to accept fully the proposal that has been made, which they accepted in principle,'' Clinton said. ''Acceptance fully of this proposal ... would be a good indication that Iran does not wish to be isolated and does wish to cooperate with the international community.'' She said Iran should accept it as it stands, ''because we are not altering it.''

COMMENT:  Okay, she said we're not altering it.  Now the question is whether Obama will back her up, or throw her under the bus, like all the others who became redundant to his ambitions.  Her statement is clear and uncompromising.  If it gets bent by the White House, she will come off as someone out of the loop.

We are at a critical moment, not only on Iran policy, but in the relationship between the marshmallow in the White House and his much tougher secretary of state.

November 2, 2009