Iran Task Force in Washington Post
The bottom line for an Iran deal
By Jennifer Rubin
The bottom line for an Iran deal
By Jennifer Rubin
One has to admire the discipline of Democrats. Republicans are an ornery lot and prone to include mavericks who buck the party line. But those Democrats – wow. Despite the what-universe-are-we-in treatment of Israel as a malefactor and Iran as a potential friend we must handle with kid gloves, there has been no Senate Democrat, for example, who has gone to the floor to say something like, “Mr. President this is not in the best tradition of the Democratic Party for whom support for Israel has been a mainstay for decades. This is no time to be pushing allies away or giving the appearance of over-eagerness for a deal.” Despite the obvious rush to a deal Democrats have not reconsidered whether it might be best to vote on Corker-Graham before a deal is struck, not after, or whether the administration might benefit from some guidelines as to what might be an acceptable deal.
Because Democrats (not Republicans, as the media like to portray it) are so cowed by their party apparatchiks and so readily fall into line I find it hard to believe they will make good on their promises and vote against a bad deal which the administration will play up as a transformative deal, the only alternative to which is war. Fortunately the president’s former adviser Dennis Ross and former ambassador Eric Edelman have put out the latest in their joint reports on the Iran deal, this one setting out the key elements of a good deal.