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As part of their covenant to oppose Barack Obama at every
turn, Republicans had been rubbing their hands at the chance to disparage
whatever Iran nuke agreement that was to be struck by the “P5 plus1.” In spite
of their efforts, it is in fact, a done deal. Senate Republicans do not have
the votes to reject it. So in simple terms, it’s a victory for Obama. Sadly,
the deal is still a casualty of a weak defense.
Like so many points to Republican arguments these days,
their guiding light in opposition to the deal were just ways of sidestepping
logic and reality. They led with five words that will never show up in
Bartlett’s: “we need a better deal.” Simple words, but just enough to scare
ordinary Americans who don’t negotiate accords with other countries on a
regular basis. Their talking points actually came from people who don’t
negotiate accords with other countries on a regular basis. Yet, Oklahoma
Senator Tom Cotton can cast just enough doubts on the seasoned diplomats and physicists who crafted the draft
that ordinary Americans take a fearful note. With just a little TV time, Republicans
have introduced to the fray, the notion that a Republican deal would have totally
shut down the Iranian nuclear program and the Iranians would have just sat
there and accepted it. They are entitled to their own opinion. But as a side
note, I would just love to show them the criticisms ultra-conservatives lobbed against their spiritual pillar, Ronald Reagan for signing the INF Treaty
with the Soviets in 1987.
While they will fail at squashing the deal, Republicans have
remained true to one of their main objectives since January of 2009 – to
undermine American confidence in the Obama Administration. And as expected,
Democrats did their usual rhetorical capitulation by prefacing their defenses
of the agreement with “This is not a perfect deal, but…,” or worse “this may be
a flawed deal, but…” Why? Because Democrats are too afraid to realign the
dialog from the perverted skewed perspective established by the Tom Cottons. In
essence, the Democratic line of support is “I’m going along with this deal that
I think is damaged goods.” That is insanity!
Why didn’t they just say “no agreement in our history has
ever been a guarantee, but blah blah blah,
or “Conservatives also disagreed with Reagan’s INF Treaty of 1987, but blah blah blah.” They don’t do that
because they are congenitally predisposed to conceding victory to Republican
fear-mongering. It is half-assed leadership promulgated by overly-practical
people who believe that if you don’t give in somewhat to whatever false notions
people may already believe, then you will come off as tone-deaf. So the result
is a Democratic party that continually sings off key in order to convince
people they have perfect pitch. Again. Insanity.
While he was Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick screamed
in a speech at the 2012 Democratic Convention “It’s time for Democrats to grow
a backbone.” Things would be better now if they had taken his advice. For one,
they would be praising the allies and work of the professionals who demonstrated statecraft the way it is
supposed to be done. Instead they were all thrown under the bus with another
piece of Dem credibility.
