It wasn't “treasonous" of those 47 Republican Senators to send a letter to the Iranian government in an attempt to undermine the Obama Administration’s nuclear talks, as some liberals asserted. Treason is an extraordinary crime, and Republicans using any means at their disposal to stop this president from achieving his goals is very ordinary. But the letter is short-sighted. We have a consensus that the executive conducts foreign policy because our culture has wisely judged that, on average, things will be worse for America if, instead of using our commander-in-chief as our agent to the world, we presented the dis-unified hoard of egos that is our Congress. The letter encourages the notion that foreign governments must double-check with Congress before believing that the United States is negotiating in good faith. Republicans don’t have to respect it when Obama tries to make domestic policy unilaterally, but weakening the executive’s primacy in foreign policy will in the long run hurt America in ways we can’t see. Supposedly eminent foreign policy “experts” like John McCain should have known this.
Moreover, the letter’s tone was offensively improper; it reads like the Republicans are trying to help the Iranian negotiators, by “enriching” their knowledge of “our constitutional system.” If there is anything treacherous about the letter, this helpful tone is it.
I'm in favor of negotiating with Iran for a better future. But they did violate international principle in an unprecedented way when they took innocent diplomats hostage. They continue to support terrorism and oppress women and say unconscionable things about Israel, our vulnerable blood-brother of an ally. We shouldn't be forgetting these facts any more than Iran forgets about the CIA deposing their democratically-elected government in 1953 -- which is to say, not at all. We negotiate with them for a safer planet as suspicious rivals, not as friends.
However it was intended, that the GOP took a cozy tone with the mullahs in such a public way made me recoil. That’s what those 47 Senators should be most ashamed of.