This column originally appeared in The Sun Chronicle on Friday, March 13, 2015
AN INSIDE LOOK
By Bill Gouveia
This
is addressed to the 47 Republican members of the United States Senate who
recently signed an open letter to the leaders of Iran.
Dear
Senators:
You
should be ashamed of yourselves. You are
an embarrassment to your states, your country, your party and the people you
represent. Your behavior is un-American,
bordering on treasonous and treacherous, and damaging to the government you
allegedly serve. And frankly, those are
the kindest things I can find to say about what you have done.
You
alleged leaders wrote a letter to a foreign government undermining the President
of the Unites States. You did this while
your President and Secretary of State were engaged in negotiations with that
government. You put party politics ahead
of our country, and tried to disguise it as standing up for America.
The
topic being negotiated is irrelevant to this conversation. It does not matter if you agree with what is
being discussed. There are legitimate
avenues for you to express support or opposition to this process, and you have
stepped beyond them. You can disagree
with the President’s stance on these negotiations at the top of your voice on
national television for hours if you like.
But
you communicated directly with foreign leaders who you in the past have
(justifiably) accused of sponsoring terrorism.
You flat-out told them the President could not guarantee the government
of the Unites States would stand by his actions. You did so while publicly proclaiming you
were just making sure these leaders understood how American government really
works.
It
seems they understand it just fine, Senators.
You are the ones who apparently don’t get it.
You
have invited others to disrespect your President, your government, and
yourselves. You have made it appear the
leader of the free world does not speak for the people who twice elected
him. You have overstepped your bounds,
gone beyond your authority, and made yourselves look petty and foolish.
In
your letter you used the words “Anything not approved by Congress is a mere
executive agreement.” A mere executive agreement? Like that means nothing? Like the word of the President of the United
States means less because the prevailing political party in Congress does not
agree with him? That disgusts me,
Senators.
Criticize
the President all you want. Slam his
actions, his methods, his philosophies.
Complain about his politics and where he is leading the country. This system of government which you appear
intent on undermining gives you that right.
But
the office of President of the United States deserves better than this. Regardless of who occupies the White House,
we are only as good as the word of our President. That individual carries on his or her
shoulders the responsibility to speak for a nation that was founded upon the
basic principles of democracy.
Vice
President Joe Biden put it best the other day when he said: “This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe
alike that our commander-in-chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments — a
message that is as false as it is dangerous.
Honorable people can disagree over policy. But this is no way to make
America safer or stronger.”
However, you 47
senators did achieve one pretty impressive accomplishment. You managed to make the leadership of Iran
appear reasonable and rational.
Iranian
response to your letter was exactly as it should be. They recognized it for the desperately
political act it so obviously was.
Iran’s Foreign Minister said, “We believe the letter has no legal value
and is propaganda.” And he was right.
If this were a
group of Democratic senators undermining the authority of a Republican
President, I would feel exactly the same.
In fact, I was angry when well-known individual Democrats deliberately
undermined past Presidents.
But this is far
more outrageous. This is a near-majority
of the US Senate deliberately devaluing the power and authority of executive
orders issued by the President. It is
nothing short of an attack on the very foundation of American democracy.
You Republican senators can try and claim the high ground here,
but the end does not justify the means.
Shame on you. When you disrespect
the office of the President to a foreign nation, you disrespect America.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime
local official. He can be emailed at aninsidelook@aol.com and followed on Twitter at
@Billinsidelook.
4 comments:
I AM VERY PROUD OF THE LEADERSHIP SHOWN BY THE COURAGEOUS SENATORS WHO STAND AGAINST OUR ROGUE PRESIDENT...OUR PRESIDENT WHO IS ASSISTING OUR ENEMY TO BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE NUCLEAR WEAPONS...OUR PRESIDENT WHO HAS BETRAYED OUR ALLIES ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA...AND SENT A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT THAT WE THE PEOPLE ARE NOT BLIND TO THEIR INTENTIONS AND DESPITE OUR CURRENT ADMINISTRATION WE AS AMERICANS WILL STAND AGAINST THEM...
Jim , you clearly don't get Mr. Gouveia's message, and you make valid points that I may agree with,but proud of their leadership is not the feeling I get! Petty grandstanding, high school like antics probably could make other comparisons but not now! This type of leadership is why we are where we are today in this country! Let's grow up act like the supposedly responsible elected officials chosen to take our country in a direction that makes us all proud to be Americans not republican or democrat!
While I agree that it was not a great strategy for the Republicans, Democrats have a long history of doing the same thing. Two wrongs don't make a right, but the Republicans have not cornered the market on embarrassing themselves.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/10/7-times-democrats-advised-americas-enemies-to-oppose-the-president/
The "But they did it too" defense is weak at best. This was a disgrace, pure and simple.
Post a Comment