There are many, today, who call President Obama a traitor. He is not the traitor. The traitors are the Democrats who agreed to accept the Iran Deal despite their misgivings, some of them grave.
Cory Booker was one of the most unexpected to stand behind Obama. Despite the serious concerns he has expressed: that the Deal is “dangerous” and “deeply-flawed;” that “with this deal, we are legitimizing a vast and expanding nuclear program in Iran;” while acknowledging Iran’s “determination to destroy the United States and our ally Israel;” he was still able to say “yes.”
In his own words: “With the JCPOA, we have now passed a point of no return that we
should have never reached… “[Iran] will continue or even ramp up its destabilizing activities and sponsorship of terrorism with the additional resources provided by increased sanctions relief.” He said “yes” when “even under the deal, we should expect that Iran will cheat when it can.”
Then there is Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The White House was closely watching the decision of Ms. Wasserman Schultz. As a leading Jewish lawmaker and head of the DNC, her vote is seen
as influential with other Democrats.”
There has been a full court press on the Jewish representatives, perhaps playing to dual-loyalty. Ms. Wasserman Schultz
has spoken to the President and the Vice President. Schultz said the President assured her she would be part of a group of members in Congress working with the administration to develop an enhanced security package for Israel, as well as “tightening our ability to enforce this deal.”
“That’s critical for me,” she said.
Yet, despite her concerns she agreed to the Deal. She stated: “… there are a number of things that really had given me angst and pause, and that still do. I worry that the vigilance over the life of the deal may wane, not the United States' vigilance, but, you know, with the IAEA's enforcement, with the world that has been a party to this, that complacency could set in. I worry that the additional resources, no matter how little, that Iran would get access to, that they could divert to terrorist activity would cause harm to Jews and others around the world. I worry that we have to make sure that the monitoring is really as
gap-free as possible.
For all her worries she doesn’t seem to be worried that “Opponents of the nuclear deal are angry lawmakers
have not had a chance to see the side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
Mark Warner said "While I believe there are several areas of concern with the agreement, the choice I ultimately had to make was between accepting an imperfect deal, or facing the serious ramifications if Congress rejected a deal that has the support of the rest of the world."
Forgive me if I was under the impression that America was the leader of the free world.
Dianne Feinstein supports the deal. She sounded hopeful in Iran's "moderate elected government that wants to make a change...We'll see if this is enough to induce that change.” Seems she is counting on this Iranian “moderate” government.
For
Harry Reid the best reason to vote “yes” is the fact that Dick Cheney is against it. Reid said "I'm sorry, I cannot hold back a smile. There are a lot of good reasons for this deal. But the best is that Cheney's against it.” Reid contended that the world will look down on Republicans for voting to block the deal.
This is the same man who complained that the Republicans vote against anything Obama wants.
And then I read Roger Cohen’s comments in the New York Times. That this is published in the New York Times makes me more frightened. Cohen writes that Obama’s mantra is “Don’t do stupid stuff.” His policy is more avoiding errors. “You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run.”
Cohen agrees with the Iran Deal, while admonishing the President for his lack of follow through on Syria. He wrote that in 2011 Obama said, “‘The time has come for President Assad to step aside.’ At that time, as events have shown, the president had no policy in place to achieve that objective and no will to forge such a policy. His words were of a grave irresponsibility.”
Then in 2013 when France was ready to join forces with America against Syria in response to Assad’s crossing the “red line” Obama walked away at the last minute. Cohen writes: “In so doing, he reinforced Assad, reinforced Putin, declined to change the course of the Syrian war, and diminished America’s word in the world — setbacks of far greater significance than ridding Syria of chemical weapons. This was a mistake… In Libya, Obama bombed and abandoned. In Afghanistan, Obama surged and retreated. In Syria, Obama talked and wavered.”
And “Nobody loves a vacuum like a jihadi.
And nobody likes American wobbliness like Vladimir Putin.”
Cohen has shown us that historically Obama has not shown an ability to have a plan and a back-up plan. And that his past actions diminished America’s word in the world, yet Americans should trust him now with a deal with many flaws and sections allegedly not revealed to the Congress, let alone the American people. Based on Cohen’s review-that’s just wishful thinking.
These Democrats have acknowledged the flaws and their fears. Yet they stand in lock-step with their leader-The President of the United States Barack Obama-who was the initiator and instigator of this deal.
One day when asked “Why did you agree to the deal?” They will answer “I was only following orders.”
Democrats for the Iran Deal
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Chris # (D-Del.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
huffingtonpost.com
