Barack Obama has taken a lot of flak for suggesting that he'll talk to our enemies, such as Iran.
Let's look at our experiences talking, and not talking, to our enemies.
North Korea, Clinton Administration: After our spies told us that North Korea was working to get a bomb, the Clinton Administration engaged the North Korean government in intensive talks, basically threatening to attack if the North Koreans built a bomb. Result: The North Koreans sign a treaty agreeing not to enrich their uranium in exchange for Western help building a light water reactor, and massive grants of fuel oil. They later violated the spirit of the agreement, though possibly not the letter, after the South Koreans reneged on the light water reactor. Result: no North Korean bombs during the Clinton Administration.
North Korea, Bush Administration: After our spies told us that North Korea was violating the spirit, if not necessarily the letter of the Agreed Framework, Bush refused to talk to them any further, and made various threats that the US did not follow up on. Result: North Korea builds several nuclear weapons and tests at least one.
But this is only the most obvious example...
Over the years, the US has tried each tactic, talking, and not talking, to its enemies.
In 1950, the US was not in contact with either the North Korean government or the Chinese Communist government, neither of which it recognized. From the Wikipedia:
In a speech, US Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave a speech declaring that America’s Pacific defense perimeter was made up of the Aleutians, Ryukyu, Japan, and the Philippines, implying that America might not fight over Korea. Acheson said Korea’s defense would be the responsibility of the United Nations.
The North Koreans invaded in August. Had they been in contact with the US government, it seems likely they would have been told that we would send troops to defend South Korea, and it seems unlikely that they would have taken the chance of invading their neighbor.
Later in the same year, President Truman brushed off Chinese warnings, sent through neutral diplomats, that China would consider US troops crossing the Yalu River as a threat to China. The troops crossed. China entered the war, turning a huge US victory into a five year slog to a stalemate.
While no one can prove that direct contact would have prevented the war, it seems to me possible that if Truman or Acheson had been talking directly to the Chinese, they might have got the message.
Both the war, and Chinese intervention, grew out of the US not talking to its enemies.
On the other hand, the US has often talked with its enemies, even when they don't share ideologies with us. The US has always maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, even when they were threatening to bury us. The result has been many agreements to reduce nuclear weapons, and a mutual understanding of each other's sore spots. The Cuban Missile Crisis, which could easily have turned into nuclear war, ended because the US government under Kennedy negotiated our short-range missiles in Europe for the Soviet Union's short-range missiles in Cuba.
Israel has always talked with its neighbors, many of whom are officially still at war with it. It has kept these talks largely secret. Talks with Jordan's King Hussein in 1967 resulted in Jordan putting only a token effort into the war. Talks with Egypt resulted in a peace treaty.
Talk does not mean you can't go to war. It does not mean you can't threaten. It just means you're more likely to get the message through.
Direct talk also reduces posturing. You are less likely to call your opponent "evil" and to assume that he is utterly irrational. And even if he is irrational, it is worthwhile knowing his point of view.
I am looking forward, as the rest of the world is, to an Obama Administration that engages with our enemies. That engagement may include sweet talking. It will certainly involve threats, and the drawing of lines in the sand. You can't do either if you just go to your room and sulk.
Next time someone tells you that "Obama wants to talk to terrorists," you can remind them that he has explicitly said he won't talk to terrorists. But you might also remind them that talking to our enemies has usually gotten us much more safety than not talking to them. And sulking gets you nowhere at all.