When Benny Met Barry

The Obama era, as portrayed by proud supporter of the Iran deal and “Cuba opening.”
June 6, 2018 Lloyd Billingsley
As a speechwriter and deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes wielded considerable clout, but his true claim to fame flowed from comments he made about the Iran deal. Reporters were young and “literally know nothing,” so Ben had been able to create an “echo chamber” in which “they were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.” Rhodes makes a lame attempt to disown the connection, but he is on record that “I’d made myself an easy mark,” and that he wanted a deal “even if Iran doesn’t change.” Rhodes was ideal for this task, critics said, because he trained as a writer of fiction. He was a storyteller, like David Axelrod, and his boss was down with that. “The notion that there’s something wrong with storytelling,” Rhodes has his president saying. “I mean, that’s our job. To tell a really good story about who we are.” This one could use some stool softener, and readers should see it in context.