Have you actually read the letter?

In Extraordinary Move GOP Senators Bypass Obama And Reach Out To Iran To Scuttle Nuclear Deal

Once upon a time, there was a respected and sacrosanct unwritten rule in America when it came to dealing with both foreign allies and enemies.

The well-established notion that “politics stop at the water’s edge” was one that recognized that we can fight like cats and dogs on the topic of foreign policy within the confines of our own Union, however, when it comes to dealing with foreign powers—particularly our foreign enemies—we are all Americans who face challenges together and as a unified people. This approach has, indeed, been one of the very hallmarks of what has made America special since our founding.

Tragically, we can, today, officially retire this rule that has served us so well these many, many years.

Today, forty-seven Republican senators destroyed this time tested bit of wisdom by signing and sending an open letter to the leaders of Iran, informing them that any agreement entered into with the President of the United States may not survive beyond the next two years—unless, of course, Congress gives it’s support to whatever agreement the President negotiates.

It’s not that I disagree with these senators when they argue that any agreement with Iran represents a treaty between our two countries and, as such, ought to be submitted to the advice and counsel of the United States Senate.

I think they are right.

Indeed, in 2002, I agreed with then Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Joe Biden, when he argued to Secretary of State Colin Powell that the Moscow Treaty on strategic nuclear weapons should be submitted to the Senate for approval—just as I agree that any deal we make with Iran should undergo such an examination and approval.

The difference is that Biden did not bring our adversary into the mix by sending a letter to the Russians informing them of the limitations on President Bush per our Constitution and why our adversary should beware of our own representative’s ability to negotiate a deal. Biden had the good sense to understand just how profoundly wrong such a move would be, a measure of wisdom sorely and terribly lost on those who participated in signing the letter than was delivered by these Members of Congress to the Iranians today.




Just think about this for a moment and let it sink in; forty-seven members of the United States Congress have informed our enemy that the President of the United States has neither the authority nor the power to deliver on any deal negotiated.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution—the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices—which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress. Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.”

The mullahs must be having one hell of a good laugh over this one.

Taken at face value, the letter expresses a belief that the Iranians fail to understand how the American system works. Apparently, these Members of Congress believe that Iran’s leaders, despite the fact that the University of Tehran has one of the better law and political science schools in the Middle East, are not particularly well educated on how the American political and governmental system works.

As a result of these senators suggesting that our negotiating opponent lacks sufficient understanding of our system, Iranian negotiators must be smiling ear to ear today as anyone who has ever negotiated anything knows that there is nothing like having your opponent underestimate you when seeking to get yourself the very best deal possible.

Of course, the Iranians will no doubt recognize the letter for what it is—an attempt to undermine the United States President’s ability to make a deal that both parties can rely upon. In taking steps to suggest to our adversary that our own representatives may not be able to deliver on an agreement, these senators seek to accomplish their political objectives and kill the deal by going around the President and appealing to our adversary.

As one who has spent countless hours in negotiations, about the only thing better than being underestimated by my opponent is having knowledge that my opponent at the bargaining table does not have the support of his or her principal. This leaves my opponent constantly worried more about proving capability to the principal and far less willing to focus on the best deal for his or her side.

Either way, when I see a negotiating opponent deeply damaged by either of these two handicaps, I’m a very happy guy.

That is how the Iranians feel today—both happy and amused, courtesy of 47 United States Senators who have allowed their politics and ego to, once again, take precedence over the business and long-standing wisdom of the United States of America.

For those of you who despise the President of the United States, this latest turn of events will likely come as good news.

But then, you have long placed your enmity for this one man—who just so happened to twice be duly elected by a majority of your fellow citizens—above your willingness to honor and respect the Office of the Presidency and the long-standing traditions and understandings that have served this country so well for generations.

Your anger and hatred towards a man who will hold the presidency for just eight short years have caused you to lose the ability to recognize that unless these long established traditions and rules are destroyed by short-sighted people like these forty-seven senators, they will long outlive this particular president’s term of office.

How good it would have been if these Members of Congress had given this a bit more thought before putting politics ahead of country.

For those of you who believe we are making a mistake by entering into an agreement with Iran—an agreement to which I too may very well object once I see what the deal actually turns out to be—today’s developments will likely be welcomed news. By focusing your hatred on this one man, you have developed a complete inability to recognize that America survives all of its presidents, but may not survive the destruction of institutional rules that have worked since the beginning. We have ways to fight these battles within our borders. If the Senate objects to a deal being made without them, take it to the people and convince the President he is making a mistake sidestepping the Congress.




But you don’t enlist our enemy in the process of accomplishing goals that belong within our borders.




Of course, if you are one of these individuals who are incapable of seeing the terrible wrong done by these 47 senators because what you perceive to be near term benefits blind you to the long term damage, I completely understand that this article will have little to no impact on you. Only with the benefit of time and history will you come to understand the profound wrong that has taken place this very day.

Ironically, it is these same forty-seven senators who have long told anyone who would listen that our President’s biggest foreign policy error is that he allows our foreign adversaries to view us as ‘weak.’

I can tell you for a certainty that there is nothing that creates the appearance and reality of weakness like telegraphing to the individual across the table that the individual with whom they are negotiating has no power to make a deal. This is, without question, the ultimate expression of weakness.

Again, in America, we fight out foreign policy within our institutions —we do not bring our enemies into the process. Period.

But then, we can no longer say this, can we?

While most of those in the Senate who are members of the Republican Party chose to participate in this unprecedented action, it must be pointed out that there were seven Republican Members of that body who chose to put country first, and thank God for them.

While I may disagree with these senators on any number of issues, I will not soon forget how these seven Republicans showed great character by standing up to their associates who were all too willing to do something that would previously have been viewed as unspeakable behavior.

Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, leads the list of those who put country first and to whom we should all be grateful. He deserves to be honored as such by being mentioned within the confines of this article.

One more note on this—if you’ve been hard on the President for his executive order on immigration because you believe that he violated the Constitution, that is fine. There are, indeed, serious constitutional issues his actions raise and it is wholly appropriate that the matter is being decided in the courts.

However, if you support what these members of Congress did today in sticking their nose into where both the Constitution and sound judgment forbids them to go, you’ll need to forfeit your indignancy as it pertains to that executive order at once.

Where I come from, two wrongs don’t make a right—they only revoke the opportunity for the just to call out the unjust.

The President Is a Spoiled Brat

Has there ever been a President that spent so much time hurling childish insults at the opposition party?

Taking a swipe at the GOP, the President said, “You don’t diminish your office by taking a selfie. You do it by sending a poorly written letter to Iran.”

Here is the president not diminishing his office by taking a selfie at the funeral of Nelson Mandela.

Has there ever been a President that spent so much time hurling childish insults at the opposition party?

Unfortunately the common american voter who has the memory retention of a 5 year old will have forgotten all about the letter by the time the 2016 elections roll around.

But dident the Repub's write the letter? Isen't it the Repub's who have kept the garbage going?

Arn't you a rabid Repub

idiot claiming to be neutral?

Unfortunately the common american voter who has the memory retention of a 5 year old