And so, in their latest stunt to give a huge middle finger to the President of the United States, John Boehner and his extremist Republicans have invited Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of the Congress – with no prior consultation with the White House – thereby ignoring protocol and possibly undermining America’s image abroad, including the Administration’s ongoing efforts to cut a deal on nuclear power development with Iran.
This current bunch of Republicans have repeatedly appeared racist and self-centered, consistently putting their party above the nation’s best interest. They will say anything and apparently do almost anything to advance their party’s interest and the interests of their wealthy benefactors.
As political satirist Bill Maher has pointed out, there are those who just can’t handle the fact that there’s a black man in the White House.
The unspoken impact of race remains the elephant in the middle of the room with regard to the Republican Party’s refusal to establish anything resembling a reasonable relationship with this current president. Their ongoing intransigence and hateful reactionism represent a slander against both Mr. Obama, and the Office of the President of the United States.
I was recently reminded by a former colleague that in foreign affairs the nation must, out of necessity, speak with one voice. And that one voice is the President of the United States. Not the Speaker of the House of Representatives, unless the Speaker wishes to undermine the proper functioning of the Republic, possibly touching upon sedition.
The Speaker was elected to represent his district. The President, as America’s only nationally elected official, represents all the American people. Mr. Netanyahu, may not know this. When America speaks with one voice, that one voice comes from the President.
It is sad that an elected leader of the Israeli people has seen fit to join the out of control John Boehner and his Obama-hating colleagues in this most recent staged event, particularly with elections approaching in Israel. Netanyahu’s ongoing desire for the United States to become militarily entangled with Iran is transparent, as is his apparent belief that upstaging a sitting President of the United States will help to maintain his power base at home, which is where he should have stayed.
One can only hope sensibility will prevail and that most in the House and Senate will boycott Netanyahu’s inappropriate appearance, although you can be sure most Republicans will be there cheering him on, using him as a political stooge in their continuing effort to defame the Obama White House and undercut President Obama’s ability to avoid a potential war by reaching a deal on nuclear power with Iran.
John McCain’s refrain of “Bomb, bomb.bomb….bomb, bomb Iran,” continues to resonate. He and Bibi Netanyahu are undoubtedly of one mind on the subject.
This entire misguided affair is simply sad, for both the United States and for Israel, and is one more indicator of how unreasonable and broken our politics have become.
One wonders if Mr. Obama will now be invited to address the Knesset.
