Obama is heading for a bad deal

A week ago, when U.S. President Barack Obama gave the State of the Union address in which he raised the issue of Iran's nuclear program and his opposition to a bill calling for harsher sanctions that he in any case intended to veto, the cameras rested on Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

Menendez, who used to head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of Obama's biggest opponents on the Iran issue. He is also the one who initiated the move to increase sanctions against Iran, along with his Republican colleagues. The cameras caught the very dissatisfied expression of the talented senator, who was hardly surprised by the president's speech, particularly as it pertained to Iran and Cuba. Where Obama is seeking to leave a legacy, Menendez is exposing the pitfalls.

But Obama is president, and for anyone who has forgotten, he's also from the Democratic camp. In other words, Obama really made a mistake. What can you do? And Menendez is right. It might be hard for some people, particularly in Israel, to accept that. The hierarchy determines that the president outranks a senator from his party, not the other way around.

Obama has been wrong about American foreign policy thus far, including Iran. But a fundamental, crucial, diplomatic-security issue is suddenly becoming an American political storm into which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been dragged. Given his tense relations with Obama, maybe the prime minister should have notified the White House about his planned visit to Capitol Hill, but that was really the responsibility of the person who invited him -- House Speaker John Boehner. But that's not the real problem in all this: the problem is that we are now closer to a bad deal than to no deal. So Netanyahu has to go and address Congress. It's even expected of him.

Ever since the renewal of the Iranian nuclear talks in Geneva in October 2009, we have seen how different the six powers' approaches are. The various meetings with the Iranians have seen plenty of ups and downs -- mainly downs. That did not prevent the sides from signing an interim agreement in November 2013. This agreement is meant to lead to a permanent deal, which has already been postponed twice. The new deadline in March 24. It looks like the moment of truth on Iran's nuclear program has arrived.

Different views between the White House and Congress in Washington have also come to light. The harsh disagreement between the Republicans and Democrats on almost every issue were put aside when the matter of a nuclear Iran came up. The fear of a bad agreement resulting in a nuclearized Iran and the arrogant behavior of the ayatollah regime led to the Democrats, under Menendez (who a few days ago said that Obama's position sounded like it came "straight out of Tehran"), to call out the White House and initiate new sanctions.

Nothing has really changed since the State of the Union, when Menendez made a face. But right after the speech but before the announcement that Netanyahu had been invited to address Congress, Menendez himself hinted that he was considering blocking the incipient sanctions bill.

Preventing a nuclear Iran

Netanyahu was invited by Boehner to lay it on the line about Iran. Two things were running through the prime minister's mind: his tense relations with Obama and the American political storm. And one more thing, no less important: the Israeli elections, which politicize every move the prime minister makes.

Netanyahu considered and reached the conclusion that despite the danger of negative headlines (he's used to them), it was better that he head for Congress to stop the Iranian nuclear bomb that will change the balance of power in the Middle East, and not in our favor.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Menendez announced on Tuesday that he would do as the White House wanted and postpone the move to increase sanctions on Iran. According to Menendez, this was giving the president "a break" and not cancelling the bill calling for new sanctions. We must remember that the senator from New Jersey remains as skeptical as his colleagues. He said that they were still "very skeptical" about Tehran's willingness to forgo parts of its nuclear program, that Iran had to prove it was intended for peaceful purposes.

This morning, the prime minister will probably catch it from every media outlet. Netanyahu, the man who is determined to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, will obviously be blamed for the legislation having been frozen and for a continued soft approach by the U.S. toward the Iranians.

In fairness, even with a bipartisan majority on Capitol Hill, President Obama still has a veto, and would have used it to stop the bill.

This is why Netanyahu's visit to Congress is more urgent than ever. In any case, it looks like the real battle will begin on March 24, and then there won't be any time.

Menendez might have fallen into line with the president for now, although it's hard to believe he has betrayed his conscience.

And one last observation to those who claim that Netanyahu caused the sanctions bill to fail just for the sake of a photo op in Congress: only a few days ago, these people believed that Obama should be given time. So now what? Could it be that Netanyahu was right?

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו