In an open letter to Iran’s leaders Monday, 47 Senate Republicans led by Arkansas’ Tom Cotton informed the Islamic Republic that any nuclear deal with the US not ratified by Congress would be a “mere executive agreement” that could be revoked or modified.
Almost immediately, critics filled the news with cries of “treason” and “traitor.”
President Obama accused the senators of siding with Iran’s hard-liners. Vice President Joe Biden said the letter was beneath the Senate’s “dignity.”
And Howard Dean — who recently slimed the Americans flocking to see “American Sniper” as angry Tea Partiers — said that if Cotton were not a vet, “I would say this borders on treason.”
Please. Yes, an open letter to Tehran about the niceties of America’s Constitution was not the best way to make the point.
But typically, those accused of treason are siding with the enemy rather than what’s happening here, where the Republican senators are trying to deep-six a deal because they fear it will leave an American enemy stronger.
Even more unfortunately, this letter is distracting attention from the two worst aspects of these negotiations. The first has to do with the aim of the deal, which has morphed from preventing Iran from getting a nuke to managing the timeline of acquisition.
The second is the end run President Obama is trying to make around Congress.
True, this wouldn’t be the first nuclear agreement a president has made without congressional approval.
Then again, the last such deal was the one Bill Clinton struck with North Korea to get it to dismantle its nuclear-weapons program.
How did that work out?
Last we checked, North Korea today has enough material now for nine bombs — and will have enough for up to 79 by 2020.