The saying goes, “Once is an event, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern.” So it goes with the Obama administration’s major foreign policy trophies. The historic accord with Iran, freezing the so-called “axis of evil” nation’s development of nuclear weapons, while also submitting to inspections, is the latest event to fulfill the pattern, preceded by victories in Libya and Syria.
Predictably, Republican opponents of the administration (and even a few Democrats) immediately reacted with a three-part pattern of their own. The deal is either 1) not good enough, 2) a nightmarish hellscape, or 3) it’s a lucky distraction from Obamacare. Realistically, I suppose it’s foolish to expect that the GOP would collectively exclaim, You’re doing great, Mr. President! Huzzah!
Sadly, no, they’re never going to gather at the White House and toss thank-you-notes with little hearts dotting every “i” onto the Resolute Desk. That’s not what they do. Obviously. Instead, they’re doing what they do best: scare-mongering and bumper sticker sloganeering. However, whether the Republican argle-bargle over the Iran deal is a matter of knee-jerking or actual policy disagreement or a combination of both, they’re simply wrong to deny the administration’s record.
Here’s why.
Each victory, Libya, Syria and, now, Iran, was achieved without extended military commitments or the loss of a single American soldier. Call me counter-superstitious, but there’s no way this pattern is due to the president and his foreign policy team somehow stuffing their pants with wads of four leaf clovers while wearing the same unwashed socks every day and heavy-petting an arsenal of lucky rabbits’ feet.
Three times is a pattern. They’re doing the foreign policy thing very, very well… [CONTINUE READING]