Video: Friction mounts between Israel and U.S.

>> reporter: more about this now. we're joined by our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell and cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood . andrea , first, israel wants a specific commitment from the u.s. on when it would take action against iran . is the administration essentially afraid of being painted into a corner?

>> exactly, lester , israel is asking president obama to give iran the kind of specific ultimatum the administration officials would say tie the president's hands and remove any ambiguity of letting the iranians dictate the timetable for action. it would also bind u.s. military action to israel 's assessment of when iran is passed that point of no return and their assessment is different from the cia's timetable. a lot of this friction, though, is rooted in the fact that these two leaders just do not trust each other. add the fact that the rest of the region is now in conflict and we're in the closing weeks of a presidential election and you have a volatile mix.

>> let's talk about that election, andrea . i want to turn to john. four years ago it was candidate barack obama being attacked for a lack of foreign policy credentials. now he is the one in the oval office dealing with these volatile moving parts, and it's governor romney whose experience is being questioned. given what's happening right now on all these different fronts, could the president's advantage here be tenuous?

>> lester , for most of the last generation republicans have enjoyed the reputation for greater strength on foreign policy . president obama has turned that around in part because of his income beensy, his success in getting osama bin laden and also the nature of mitt romney 's background. the danger for the president is if americans come to see him as unable to control events and unable to protect u.s. interests, that's how the traditional republican advantage could reassert itself, lester .

>> john and andrea , thanks to

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49055131/

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