Ruth Marcus must've taken that call from her Georgetown salon pal Sen. Chuck Schumer (?-Wall Street), because she's criticizing President Obama's defense of the Iran nuclear deal. Here's how she leads in:
President Obama says those who oppose the Iran nuclear deal are either ideological or illogical. I support the deal, yet I think this assessment is incorrect and unfair. It diminishes the president’s case for congressional approval.Unfair! How dare the President call those sweet, reasonable Republicans "ideological!" The ones who were against the deal before it was even negotiated. The ones who liken him to Neville Chamberlain. The ones who say the deal is like "marching Israelis to door of the oven." The 47 who signed an arguably treasonous letter to the Ayatollahs, attempting to undermine our negotiations with a foreign power.
Unfair! How dare the President call those same Republicans and some Likudnik/ craven "Democrats" illogical! Chuck Schumer illogical? Because he thinks if the deal is rejected U.S. sanctions will remain in place and will work? Here's BooMan's rejoinder to that priceless piece of nonsense:
Because sanctions don't work on Iran unless we're willing to sanction those who violate the sanctions on Iran [Ed.: our European allies, Russia and China]. And we're not going to do that because that would be completely insane in this context.
But, as I've said, Ruth Marcus knows this very well. And, yet, she chose to use her precious space in the Washington Post to troll the president for being dismissive and exasperated and unaccommodating of the people who are just talking the worst nonsense about this deal. (our emphasis)No, the main reason Ms. Marcus is clutching her pearls at President Obama's forceful and accurate framing of the opposition is that the opposition now includes her fellow situational "Democrat," the slippery Sen. Schumer (who's apparently been burning up the phone lines to shore up support for himself - unfortunately with some success).
As BooMan quotes Secretary of State Kerry's response to Schumer's, and now by extension Marcus's arguments, "Are you kidding me?"
BONUS: Ed Kilgore adds:
... It struck me as confirmation that until the day Barack Obama leaves office, he will be blamed for the irrational rage and obstructionism of his opponents no matter what he does.
Think about what that opposition has said and done on the Iran deal: they invited a foreign head-of-government to attack it in the U.S. Congress while negotiations were still ongoing; they denounced it as treason before they had even read its terms; and now the presidential candidates among them are swearing they will abrogate it at the very first opportunity. And Obama is supposed to respect these people and those who have fecklessly joined them with their finicky misgivings?BONUS II: Danny Goldberg at DWT has more on the betrayal by Schumer and other Likudnik "Democrats."
