Obama Bows To Pressure, Will Sign Iran Bill

by JASmius



There's nothing like rendering a supreme narcissist irrelevant to motivate an abrupt change of mind:

Barack Obama bowed to pressure on Tuesday and agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject any nuclear agreement with Iran.

No, he didn't bow to pressure; he realized that his threatened veto was going to be overridden like New Orleans levies during Hurricane Katrina and reflexively flinched from a humiliation of that magnitude.

The White House conveyed the president's decision shortly before Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a compromise version of the measure on a 19-0 vote. It was a sign that Congress would not back down on its insistence that lawmakers must have a say if any final deal with Iran involves the eventual lifting of crippling economic sanctions that Congress levied on Tehran.

Three cheers for Article II, Section 2, Clause 2.

The bill is now likely to clear both houses in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Obama had threatened to veto the original bill, but as news of the compromise leaked out on Capitol Hill, the White House abruptly acquiesced. The president, however, still retains the right to veto the legislation if Congress tries to scuttle an emerging deal with Iran, which is to be finalized by June 30th.

Don't worry, Barry, the mullahs will take care of that, because they know you are an insatiable source of concessions.  Those goal posts will be on the move again by the end of June at the latest.

"Maybe they saw the handwriting on the wall," House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH8, said about the White House decision to drop its opposition.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker.  Although you have to append the words "for now" to any such statement regarding this White House.

What, you may be asking, does this episode illustrate?  What the Founding Fathers assumed would always be the case: That each branch of the federal government would jealously guard its own constitutional prerogatives - the epitome of "checks and balances" - as opposed to the "factionalism" that could undermine them and become an off ramp into tyranny.  For six-plus years America has languished under just such "factionalism" that has facilitated an imperial presidency of unprecedented proportions.  And on this singular occasion, the loyalty of Democrat lawmakers was to Congress, not their demigod.

And what THAT illustrates in turn is that the Old American Republic may be easier to resurrect than we - and certainly I - have believed.  All we have to do is follow that timeless blueprint known as the United States Constitution - on more than just a singular basis.