Obama OUTFLANKS Boehner, Netanyahu

[Segami]

Back to the drawing board boys..........

Senate Democrats, led by Iran hawk Robert Menendez of New Jersey, said Tuesday that they will give Obama two months to reach a deal on the country’s nuclear program before they vote for new sanctions. At the same time, House progressives are urging their colleagues to hold off on moving any legislation that would tighten economic penalties on Iran.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/iran-nuclear-deal-sanctions-bob-menendez-114632.html?hp=rc1_4

When even Sen. Menendez is backing the POTUS' approach, you know Boehner and Netanyahu's attempt to diminish the office of our chief executive has backfired! The Dems giving Obama breathing room appears to be the combination of Obama's successful SOTU and Boehner and Bibi's cheap stunt. What's more, with the Dems committing to a deadline, Bibi's speech to bring on the sanctions is already DOA.

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We remain hopeful that diplomacy will succeed in reversing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon capability, in accordance with the timeline that the P5+1 and Iran negotiating teams have set for themselves: March 24, 2015 for a political framework agreement and June 30, 2015 to conclude negotiations on the technical annexes of the comprehensive deal.

Congress has always been a partner in the shared goal of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon capability. We remain appreciative of your leadership in seeking to protect the United States, and our allies and partners, from the threat of a nuclear Iran. For more than two decades, the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government have worked together in a bipartisan way to implement sanctions legislation that successfully ratcheted up pressure on Iran’s nuclear program. This pressure proved to be decisive in compelling Iranian leadership to enter the latest round of nuclear negotiations in September 2013.

We remain deeply skeptical that Iran is committed to making the concessions required to demonstrate to the world that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful by March 24 – the deadline agreed upon for a political framework agreement. Considering Iran’s history in nuclear negotiations and after two extensions of the Joint Plan of Action, we are concerned that Iran is intentionally extending the negotiations to improve its leverage at the negotiating table.

We are Democratic supporters of the Iran Nuclear Weapon Free Act of 2015 – a bill that would impose sanctions on Iran only if Iran fails to reach a comprehensive agreement by the June 30 deadline. This bill also includes monthly waivers after June 30 to provide additional negotiating flexibility. We believe that this bill, as introduced, is reasonable and pragmatic, respects the nuclear negotiating timeline, and sends a strong signal to Iran and to the international community that endless negotiations under the interim agreement are dangerous, unacceptable, and could leave Iran with a threshold nuclear weapon capability.

In acknowledgement of your concern regarding congressional action on legislation at this moment, we will not vote for this legislation on the Senate floor before March 24. After March 24, we will only vote for this legislation on the Senate floor if Iran fails to reach agreement on a political framework that addresses all parameters of a comprehensive agreement. This deadline is the critical test of Iranian intentions. We expect that your Administration will consult closely with Members of Congress in the coming months, and look forward to working with you to achieve our shared goal of reversing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon capability.

Sincerely,

Robert Menendez
United States Senator

Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator

Gary C. Peters
United States Senator

Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United States Senator

Benjamin L. Cardin
United States Senator

Christopher A. Coons
United States Senator

Joe Manchin III
United States Senator

Joe Donnelly
United States Senator

Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator

http://www.menendez.senate.gov/news-and-events/press/senate-democrats-write-president-obama-on-iran-negotiations

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360508/-Breaking-Obama-outflanks-Boehner-Netanyahu

[GoCubsGo]

1. Kick.

Rec.

[AtomicKitten]

2. K. Gillibrand and C. Booker were co-sponsers too.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2014/01/06/3122551/crocker-experts-senate-iran-sanctions-bill/

[lancer78]

3. I never blamed Iran

for wanting nuclear weapons after the "man child's" Axis of Evil speech. One member of the Axis WITHOUT nuclear weapons gets invaded and destroyed. The other Axis WITH nuclear weapons, is more or less treated with kid gloves. If I was president of Iran, I would try to develop nukes just for self preservation. I would also not trust the US. It is amazing that Obama has gotten as far as he has.

[butterfly77]

4. Why is Manchin on the list..

He is no Democrat he is Hannity's and Bill O'Lielly's righthand man.

[spanone]

5. k&r...

[Ykcutnek]

6. Masterful, as usual. nt

[Segami]

7. The Netanyahu Disaster....

"....Why doesn’t Netanyahu understand that alienating Democrats is not in the best interest of his country? From what I can tell, he doubts that Democrats are—or will be shortly—a natural constituency for Israel, and he clearly believes that Obama is a genuine adversary. As I reported last year, in an article that got more attention for a poultry-related epithet an administration official directed at Netanyahu than anything else, Netanyahu has told people he has “written off” Obama.


- There is hypocrisy in the discussion of the Netanyahu-Boehner end-run. It is not unprecedented for foreign leaders to lobby Congress directly; the Arab states opposed to Iran do it all the time, and the British prime minister, David Cameron, lobbied Congress earlier this month on behalf of Obama’s Iran policy, and against the arguments of the Republicans. But the manner and execution and overall tone-deafness of Netanyahu’s recent ploy suggest that he—and his current ambassador—don’t understand how to manage Israel’s relationships in Washington. Netanyahu wants a role in shaping the Iranian nuclear agreement, should one materialize. His recent actions suggest that he doesn't quite know what he's doing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/Netanyahu-vs-Obama-on-Iran/384849/

[Cha]

11. Thank you for this article, too, Segami.. interesting!

[libodem]

8. Enchanting

I love it.

[Cha]

9. Depictive graphic.. where do you come up with these, Segami?!

Here's to the largess of the Senate Dems to give the President "some breathing room" to reach an agreement with Iran.. instead of continuing with the sanctions which would not help the President's plan.

[malaise]

10. Love it

Great thread with magnificent graphics