From our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. We begin tonight with iran the wall street reported that president obama wrote a letter. In it, he stressed the country shared interest in fighting Islamic State in iraq in syria. He said cooperation could depend on reaching a nuclear deal. The newspaper comes as the u. N. Is advised to reach a deal by november 24. The letter is the fourth he has written since he took office. A white house spokesman person has the policy towards iran not changed. Joining me now are two reporters who broke the story. Tell me what you are reporting about this and in terms of these letters, is anything different than what we know from earlier letters from the president to the Supreme Leader . What is tricky is that they very much stick to the line days no courted nation, no intelligence sharing, no military cooperation. Example thatowing both sides are tipping each other off on what theyre doing in iraq and syria and certainly not targeting each other as has been the case in the past. We reported a couple of weeks ago the commander of the overseas unit of the revolutionary guard in iraq is basically telling shiites not to target american troops or Services Operating against isis in iraq. U. S. Officials are very much telling allies and even publicly saying they are not targeting the assad regime was military strikes. Regime with military strikes. He is targeting the Supreme Leader in this communication at this critical, historical time shows just how much importance the white house and president obama is placing on getting the Supreme Leader in some way to play ball. Theres a lot of skepticism he will. What are you thinking . To behink this letter has seen in the context of things that have happened over the past to iran thegest benefits of some sort of agreement on the Nuclear Issue and in terms of economic. Vidence or normalization this letter seems to just cooperation of some issues that the two sides seem to have common interest in, mailing the cooperation against sisil. They have rejected the notion that iran should cooperate with stabilization of iran. This channel is that we are not targeting their allies in the two front of iraq and syria. It is official policy of the has toat president assad go. Im not quite sure about promising iranians a safe passage or sanctuary for their allies. The other fear that i had and concern is how with iranians and in Supreme Leader who lives concert interprets this letter. He may see it as a sign as the u. S. Wants a deal very much and that may affect the way he negotiates and the roaches the Nuclear Issue. A lot of things in their that one has to be cautious of. Carol, how can i ask this in a way where im not asking for your sources . How did you get this story . The thing about this issue is that there are number of people who want to succeed and a number of people who dont want it to succeed. You can find information from both the size depending on which one feels like they are under seizure not. Havre have sources you e sources. They could upset allies in the region. Arere scripted role scriptable about cutting a deal. Skeptical about cutting a deal. It depends on reaching a nuclear deal. Is that what it says . Were not leaking the two. Seen what has happened, it was only the new the agreement. We wont touch any regional issues with iranians sad. Publicly. H iraq very in vienna. Ed about even ases are blurring a white house keep saying theres not going to be any blurring of these issues. Territorial these they have blurred. It is difficult. Jordan, israel, they are all super worried about a realignment or some sort of approach and how that could undercut that interest. One of the difficult things that the white house has done is they this closed or hold. They were having secret talks going back to mid2012. None of their allies knew about it until late 2013. Ofhink another letter direction medication between obama and the Supreme Leader wally heighten these concerns that somehow there will be a deal cut behind their backs and it will hurt their interests has heightened these concerns that somehow there will be a deal cut hide their backs and it will hurt their interest. Tell me how naive iamb. Iill the president have o am. Will the president have second will the president have sent the letter only because someone in iran encouraged him to send it . On the first one, im not quite sure if the president would have consulted with the saudi regime, nor do i think that is necessary. Even though i think the u. S. Needs to do something to rehabilitate the alliances that have been quite battered. In terms of a letter being solicited i the iranians, i dont inc. So. I suspect this was the American Initiative to bring to the Supreme Leader that notion that a Nuclear Agreement would open up wide areas of cooperation train the two sides and issues that are seemingly of concern to both of them. Given the way this issue has paid carol, can you imagine some grand bargain coming out of this . Two things stress me. One is the timing underscores how much of this president wants a deal with iran. Staringhis he is down his last two years in office. This is something he wants. The second, the fact he sent this letter stems from the fact that the white house knows if the deal is going to be cut, it totally depends on the Supreme Leader. Of that is a person who is calling all the shots. Whether they can get some sort of grand bargain, i do not know. I think what the president is signaling is if you do this, all of these other doors could open perhaps into other avenues of cooperation. Can i say one thing about this assessment . To view the Islamic Republic as a country of personalities and factions. That is true. In any sort of negotiations or agreements over a new year issue , he does had to consult with critical actors such as his military and security services, revolutionary guards, and Atomic Energy organizations and scientific establishments. He is the Supreme Leader to be sure and he is the consequential , but he but actor does have to check with those constituencies before signing off on something. Goodsuggest there are guys, bad guys, black hats, w hite hats. Parameters of a deal he will agree to have in conditioned or are being conditioned by a dialogue of a variety of organizations and institutions that constitutes the Upper Echelon of the Islamic Republic. Remind us what they had said about any kind of cooperation with the United States against isil. Thegain, it is complicated cousin of various factions. As preleader has made statements the Supreme Leader has made statements and using that as a tool to divide the region. Made some statements saying we have a shared enemy in some ways. Maybe there could be some cooperation in the future if there is an agreement. They have kind of played it both ways. Different factions have said different inks. What i find interesting is to her three weeks from a deadline, no one seems to know what is going to happen. When you look at how big the big gaps have been as far as what the u. S. Wants him with iranians say they want as far as nuclear programs, it is vast. The way the white house and the top negotiators in the u. S. Are describing the potential break down, you do not feel there is any way at all they could walk away from it. Aally they were saying top u. S. Negotiator said there will be vast escalation across the region if this diplomacy doesnt succeed. On the one hand, it is so close to the deadline, it is hard to see how they have this big agreement. On the other hand, it is possible to see the process breaking apart. What is the presence of iranian troops in iraq or is it through my understanding is there are iranian troops, at least advisors, and increasingly in syria as well. Forcesloyment of iranian in one case strengthens the Assad Government this is how complicated the region has become even the fact it doesnt have significant, powerful states anymore where everyone is kind of meddling in everyones business. Given how disorderly the middle east has become, the art common interest in unlikely actors. You could see there is common interest between a sod and assad and obama. One fascinating thing in iraq is the u. S. Intelligence includinghe advisors the commander on a lot of these malicious established militias established to harass , they are telling them to stand down right now, not to harass or attack u. S. Personnel. It is an interesting shift to given how the ieds and other equipment that removed into iraq to hurt the u. S. Came from these malicious who are now being told ilitias and having told to stand down. Ive been told they have been seen both in damascus and in yeah. Photos of the guy at the front. It is incredibly complicated. In one theater we seem to be on. He same side the message right now maybe it could change from the u. S. Military is they are not targeting assad or training syrian rebel troops to go after assad at this stage. This is the message that will be difficult going forward. Turkey, some of our allies in the fight basically have gone on saying assad must go. Part of operation has got to be targeted at that. Ana few weeks time there is agreement with iran as seen as allowing them to maintain a capacity to develop atomic weapons, i dont know how you keep that coalition together. Wantedhe United States to share some type of military intelligence, my assumption would be they could find a way to do that. I imagine that would go through the iraqis. I do think i want to focus on the notion that the american probablyat least is disorganized and battered right now. That is something that should concern washington. Particularly, the president needs to reach out more to the allies for what the direction of american policy is. There is a lot of concern in the region about what is taking place and ultimately the defeat of isil and radical Sunni Islamic forces is contingent on participation of sunni actors and so on. That is a longterm stabilization of the islamic militants we see in the region. Thank you. Leisure to have in the program. Well be right back. Stay with us. Formerre joined by two majority leaders of the senate and minority leaders at one state. Thank you both for joining us. Glad to be with you. You look at the landscape. Bitter partisanship you dysfunctional in recent years bitter partisanship. Dysfunctional in recent years. Im popular president ial you president ial election. You think something will happen . I do. There are some areas that i believe the president working with congress could make progress. Theyre talking about trade. We could do more benefit more from trading with asia countries, also europe. The president will not get that. Havingrgy area, we are an energy boom in this country. Are there some things we can do to to help move that forward . Im so optimistic that even on tax policy if you look at where obama is and where republicans are, if each one would make one move that could do you think things could get done . I do. People have seen the polarization, the confrontation for so long here they are convinced as you go into president ial cycle with the ted the world and those who feel what they have done in the last couple of years has worked, the stand your ground advocates have said, look at the record. There is ak responsibility and opportunity to prove you can manage, prove you can govern. People are looking for some indication that governance is still possible. You have got Mitch Mcconnell sing a lot of the right things. Saying a lot of the right things. I think they need to step up to the plate and sees on what could be an opening seize on what could be an opening. Let me ask a question or two about the senate. Tom dashiell, what does it mean to get back to regular order . Why havent we been there . We havent been there in part as we have used senate rules to protect senators and to try in many ways to message what is the senate is supposed to be about at that moment. Regular order means going back to a process were introduced legislation that goes to committee and have markups. You have a dip eight. You offer amendments. You pass legislation. You go to congress. Shortly. L know i think that exist because of a point and made a moment ago. Both sides need to prove to the American People before 2016 we can govern, we can manage. This function doesnt have to be a permanent state of affairs in washington today. I know that mitch is serious about it. We had to recognize it will still take 60 votes. One of the things we need to do is get back to passing an annual or biannual budget. It sets the tone for the rest of the year. The majority leader has to give time on the floor with amendments for appropriations bills. Funding in one little package. I hope to get away from that. Is downside for me republicans did not run on specific messages or agenda. Message was, obama is bad. Vote against obama. I dont think that is enough. We saw a surprise election in virginia. Ran a very Good Campaign on issues. None of us expected it. Thesh they had said we take majority and here are the three things we will do right away. I wish the president had been more magnanimous. Henot enough to say needed to be more like the clinton was after 94. It couldnt have been more magnanimous and the tone was right. Was it easy . No. Sides need to try to find a way to Work Together. Their personalities are such that obama and oconnell will never be able to talk turkey. I dont know. Maybe they could. There were senate filibusters. It seemed to serve an important work this. It was a serious debate. In recent years, everything is filibuster p at motion to proceed, everything else. Should it be undone . It can be. I hope they will take the Nuclear Option away. For that to have the effect you want, he is going to have to let amendments be offered. He shouldnt block every amendment. The leader of the democrats have got to be prepared not to filibuster everything. Although the republicans did. It has been evolutionary. Every two years it seems to have gotten worse. I think a need to find a way to back off of that ledge they are on. We talked the last few minutes about rules and procedures and regular order. Is that the root of the problem or is it culture . Campaign a . Rmanent i think it is all of the above. The environment has changed a magically. Their rarely move families to washington after an election like this. Their sofasiving on and leaving on thursdays and coming back on tuesdays and trying to govern this incredible country on once a. Too much money in politics today. Thats. Millions of ads. The culture has changed. These groups have poisoned the well two of large extent. You feel like a spectator you have got thirdparty ads. You could have Campaign Financial reform or election reform here that you can do something about anything. That would be hard to reverse. He is right on each point. Quote thatn article gave me hope. We will go back to doing things where we are going to be here in washington for major part of the week. Then we will have one of all week were we can be with our constituents. By the way, sink our calendar with the senate. There needs to be a better coordination to get things done. Right. My favorite quote is the biggest problem is the airplanes. Isple jump on an airplane the morning and fight up in the first discussion is when can i up andn thursday fly the first discussion is when can i leave on thursday . We had votes on mondays and friday mornings. Why dont they do it now . A couple of reasons. Their families here. Their families are back there. Also, it is the money. They have got to raise a typical senator has to raise about 15,000 a day in order to be competitive. Is senator like you also weeksed the parties each has a Republican Caucus lunch and Democratic Caucus lunch preview propose there be a lunch or dinner or whatever. Does that matter . It makes a huge difference. To do with relationships and the chemistry between all of the members. Every time we met as a senate, unbelievable things happened. They had fire in their eyes. Well take it to them. Will wait until wednesday and let things go down a bit. If they have regular lunches and sit and hear the perspectives, it would lower the attention a little bit. We are at the point where if parties are important, but america is more important have you suggested this . Verbally and in writing and with our commission on Campaign Reform and election reform, it is all in there. There are things that are very hard to do. You talk about campaign finance. There are things that are easy to do. This is one of the easier things to do. This is a very contentious city right now here hopefully this election be the catalyst to bring about the question of how to manage better . I know in some cases quietly and privately. Yet to do with some regularity. Jointucus has to be a caucus meaning. We talked a little bit about that. Maybe some new members or outsiders who say no. How do you deal . You have seen that contingent in your homes. First of all, im a Firm Believer in reaching out pull them in. Talk to them. Them early and often. I had to keep an eye on them. Quartetsinging senators. I used to listen to you. [laughter] here is what i recommend dont assume that ted cruz is going to be a problem. Have some things he can do. That is when real leadership comes in. Even if you dont have all members of the caucus. Maybe easy over. There willot be some disagreements. I really get agitated when they start rationing my conservatism. I was most conservative leader before some of them were born in a dont appreciate being questioned on that. [laughter] and we have welfare reform alans budget and taxsafe , what about that is not and across the aisle . It was. What changes does barack obama have to make . I think there needs to be a more conciliatory mood. Were talk that words and how the president described the election. What is more important