Dr. James Zogby

Viewpoint with James Zogby: May 28, 2009 Episode

Posted on Friday May 29, 2009

This week on Viewpoint, Dr. James Zogby hosted Flynt Leverett of the New America Foundation, Marina Ottoway from the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and David Mark from Politico.

Mr. Leverett discussed President Obama’s policy towards Iran, claiming, as in a recent New York Times article, that the Administration’s policy has “more continuity, by far, than change” from the previous administration. Regarding the United State’s interest in the “long term cessation of nuclear activity,” Mr. Leverett argued the new administration is putting “nothing new on the table.” He also discussed America’s relationship with Israel and Netanyahu’s current stance towards Iran.

Marina Ottoway, coauthor of Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World, examined a different facet of the Obama Administration and its current Middle East initiative. She asserted that the peace process will require the United States to apply the correct amount of pressure to all sides of the conflict. Ottoway also discussed potential political outcomes of the upcoming Lebanese elections and President Obama’s highly anticipated address to the Arab and Muslim world in Cairo next week.

David Mark, author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning, looked at the current dispute over the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Federal Supreme Court. Mark described the accusation made against Sotomayor’s background in influencing decisions as an “obvious statement”, applicable to all judges and in agreement with some conservative voices.