WOTR’s Ryan Evans sat down with Colin Kahl, the National Security Advisor to Vice Present Joe Biden, to talk about the mess of the Middle East and what the Obama administration is doing about it. From Iran to the Gulf states to Syria to Iraq to Turkey and beyond, Kahl explains how the White House views the problems and opportunities there. He also discusses what it’s like to be in a presidential administration in its final year.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
If you like this podcast, be sure to check out our last conversation with Kahl about the Iran nuclear agreement.
Image: USAF, Senior Airman Matthew Bruch
Emmett 
I realize I am very late getting to this but a couple notes for Colin and the Administration (hubris, no?)
1. Diplomacy is hard and complex and effective, and a hard sell in this environment. But that doesn’t mean that until the State of the Union the Administration had done a very good job moving the American people along as hard as they have been moving deals. It makes it too easy to re-characterize the efforts and outcomes for the Administration.
2. As a regular reader of sites like this, a particularly wonky activity, I understand the balance of power shift that comes from the TPP; however among my friends and acquaintances the terror of another NAFTA is not being overcome by the Administration. Citizens get snippits of things that look deadly to their industry without balancing information. I think the Administration underestimates the impacts of NAFTA on working men and women (or perhaps perceived impacts, but if you were a truck driver who has been displaced that isn’t actually a perception anymore – it is an unpaid mortgage) and the TPP looks like NAFTA after the steroids. Acquaintances in fields as diverse as photographers, lawyers, aviation engineers and web designers, are scared to death. And after the exceptional transitional compensation and retraining done during NAFTA, the public clearly understands they will be alone to deal with the consequences. Imagine their enthusiasm.