BAD PRECEDENTS AND POLITICAL THUMBS
Historically, the Speaker of the House of Representatives followed the unwritten law that partisan politics ends “at the water’s edge”. This meant foreign policy and international issues required public unity and Presidential support to protect national interests.
Similarly, American and foreign presidents and prime ministers, especially close allies, follow courtesy protocols where they don’t visit each other’s country without clearing it with its government and always avoid meddling in each others’ domestic political squabbles. Most citizens, and most definitely Americans, resent, reject and are suspicious of foreign lobbyists. That’s why it’s both surprising and regrettable that two recent and unprecedented violations of these civil norms were committed by Speaker Boehner and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, who is facing an election. In both cases it was an attempt to appease right wing radicals by having the PM come to the US (without coordinating the trip with the administration) to lobby the Congress to oppose the President, the international coalition and those negotiating with Iran. In effect, each is saying: “Look, I’m tough, and I just stuck my thumb in the eye of the President of the United States, which is what you want.” And it is definitely unhelpful to those trying hard to resolve the Iran conflict.
This isn’t Netanyahu’s first use of this ploy. He not so subtly tried to influence the last Presidential election by helping candidate Romney and, when the VP of the United States and staunch supporter of Israel, Joe Biden, flew to Israel for meetings about issues like problematic new settlements, he was welcomed with a surprise announcement by Netanyahu of new settlements in Palestinian territory.
For Boehner and the Tea Party, this attempt at insult was all about the President’s independent actions regarding immigration.
Both Boehner and Netanyahu are consumed with keeping their powerful positions, and less concerned about setting dangerous precedents that harm their country.
Roger C. Kostmayer
KW
Jan. 23, 2015
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Could not agree with your analysis more. More unspoken rules of decorum and etiquette have been violated and often times gleefully and shamelessly executed since a black man was elected President of the United States. “Job, number one; making sure Obama is a one term president.” -Mitch McConnell (R- KY) “Job number one”, at the expense of the American people…. “You lie!” – Joe Wilson (R-SC) After that STOU where Joe Wilson rudely yelled out, the disgusting disrespect of the sitting president has only increased exponentially. This latest macho posturing by Netanyahu and Boehner plays well to the right wing extremist base of each actor. I am not a huge fan of Barack, but the disrespect of the office has become dangerously destructive. If the party behavior was reversed I think the right would be justified to be outraged. Corporate media and the wussy “left” are predictably silent as Obama has been been repeatedly and unfairly bashed. What’s next? Brawls and fist fights in the Capitol Building banana republic style.
I could not agree more with this letter to the editor. Never in the history of our country that I remember in my nearly 60 years of voting for a president, has any president of the United States received so much blatant opposition to EVERYTHING as President Barack Obama has from the Republican Party, beginning with House Speaker John Boehner. This man and his party’s primary objective for the past six years has been to try to discredit our president at every turn. They have shown absolutely zero respect for the office of President of the United States, and it was a sad day in America when they were left in their positions of power.