I am going to keep this week’s post shorter than my last dissertation. This week’s fallout, OK, ONE of this week’s fallouts has been the “Cotton” letter. The letter, written by freshman Senator Tom Cotton (R- AR) and signed by 47 Senate Republicans stating that whatever agreement the Iranians might reach with the US in a nuclear agreement with the P5+1, “…is nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei…” and that the “…next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.” It was a rather simple statement laden with the potential for profound and chilling effects meant to derail a process that has yet to even truly begin.
In a recent Politico report by Burgess Everett, it appears as though some of the Republican Senators who signed the letter didn’t actually pay much attention to it. According to John McCain (R-AZ),
“It was kind of a very rapid process. Everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm,” McCain said. “I think we probably should have had more discussion about it, given the blowback that there is.”
A colleague, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) said, ““I find it hard to believe that they understood the severity of what they were doing,”
One could only hope Sen. Stabenow, the country could only hope.
Of course, there are two ways to look at this answer. Either they knew, or, now that they see the backlash, are backpedaling by telling the truth and are demonstrating the incompetence and contempt with which they perform their duties to the American people. Either way it doesn’t bode well for the entirety of the Senate GOP caucus(minus the 7 who knew may have actually read it?) or for those in the party who are currently 2016 hopefuls.
While this specific topic is related to the Republican party, this isn’t the first time a politician has done something like this. In 2007, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 12) visited Syria and engaged in discussions with Bashar Al-Assad. This type of behavior is not limited to the Republicans. Both parties play these types of political games and they should never be rationalized or accepted. Our Constitution has been crafted to deal with these exact types of situations. While examples like this and the “Cotton Letter” are outside the realm of prosecution, we must make it known that it is unacceptable. 2016 is just around the corner.
Sadly, this is just one more example of how distorted our politics has become an how entrenched in achieving it’s own ends, with no thought to the future of the United States of America and it’s citizens, both parties have become. This is politics plain and simple. Until the electorate stands up against this type of childish and petulant behavior; by demanding our system of government begin working together for the success of all those living in this great country, we will not see the end of these hubristic motivations. What will it take to spur us into action? Hopefully it won’t take a massive global confrontation.
Clinton Hermann
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