It sure Ain’t: Elkus on Why Congress Isn’t Good at Foreign Policy

March 15th, 2015 by zen

Lastly, my confidence in the Obama administration to negotiate responsibly with Iran is effectively zero. How can an insular group that takes little outside advice and won’t negotiate (or even talk) with their own supporters in Congress (!), much less the majority Republican opposition, get the better of foreigners that they understand even less well?

Immaturity vs. authoritarianism in service to incompetence. We are headed down a bad road.

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Posted in #FAIL, 2015, 21st century, democratic party, diplomacy, foreign policy, government, iran, national security, obama, politics, republican party | 2 comments

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  1. Dave Schuler:

    March 15th, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    IMO the Congress’s letter was a bonehead move. That said the Senate has a constitutional role and responsibility to advise the president on treaties (cf. my recent post on “advice and consent”) and what is the Senate to do with an administration hostile to it as both Republican and Democratic senators have complained? I think they should have taken their case public, addressing their open letter to the president rather than to the Iranian leadership.

  2. Zen:

    March 15th, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    Dave, you are absolutely right. That would have been the wiser, more politically effective play. Worded differently it could have been a bipartisan letter which would have sent a much stronger signal with less bombast. Unfortunately, the modern GOP prefers bombast to winning, as a rule