Iran Deal

Walter G. Moss challenges those who criticize the President for showing empathy toward Iran. “Rather than empathy clouding the president’s judgment, as Herf maintains, it is (as I have argued elsewhere) an important characteristic of political wisdom. Contrary to much of our macho political rhetoric, it is not a sign of weakness. It does not prevent a realistic assessment of the “enemy,” but can enhance it. And most importantly, the diplomacy it forwards can help prevent, as the president insists in his American University speech, “the drumbeat of war.”

Read Moss’s thoughtful critique here: History News Network | Barack Obama, Whatever His Faults, Shouldn’t Be Criticized for Showing Empathy toward Iran

“Conservative hostility to this agreement is nothing new. G.O.P. hardliners denounced Nixon and Reagan’s diplomatic achievements too.”

In trying to understand the Republican rage against the Iran Deal I found this article very helpful. I don’t agree with it, but knowing this history helps to make sense of their hostility to all diplomacy. But I think this is only part of the story. Their hostility is so extreme I think there is something else going on to intensify their ideological stance: an irrational opposition to anything Obama does.

Source: Why Republicans Reject the Iran Deal — and All Diplomacy – The New York Times