What's Going On: Senators’ letter did more than harm current president

 When I first heard about the now infamous “47 Senators” letter to the leaders of Iran, I was, I guess, confused was the word. 

It just didn’t seem plausible to me that 47 U.S. Senators, who are seemingly smart people with scores of other smart people working for them would all agree that sending a letter undermining the authority of our president to a hostile nation in the midst of nuclear arms negotiations was a good idea. 

It just couldn’t be. All those smart people couldn’t be so collectively stupid. 

Naturally, since the letter was designed to make President Obama look bad, I naturally (and correctly) assumed it was signed entirely by Republicans. 

I really wanted to understand their motivation and reasoning for doing something that appeared to me to be so … unjustifiable. 

So I looked to the one place I knew could put a positive spin on something utterly ridiculous: Fox News.

When I checked their website Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours after the letter went public, I saw about 40 stories on their main home page. None had anything to do with the letter. There was a compelling piece about a pregnant model who apparently, people didn’t believe looked pregnant enough. 

The next day, after the White House blasted the Senators’ response, I felt confident Fox News would fire back its own salvo, defending their beloved GOP. 

Instead, the website’s lead story was about Marvin Gaye’s family winning a court fight (and millions of dollars) over copyright infringement. I didn’t read that one, but I did click on the story about a 75-year-old woman in Virginia who choked a rabid raccoon to death. But again, nothing on the Senators’ letter. 

So in other words, this letter was even too far out there for Fox News to justify. That should speak volumes. 

The negative political feedback has been as severe as predictable. At best, Republicans have been labeled petty, shortsighted and mean-spirited. 

At worst, they have been called racist traitors. 

Some Senators have backpedalled, most notably John McCain, who admits he probably should have thought about it a little more before signing it. According to McCain, a snowstorm was bearing down on D.C. the Friday afternoon the letter circulated, and he and many of his colleagues wanted to get out of town as fast as possible, prompting him to sign it without really thinking about its ramifications. 

Others, though, remain defiantly supportive, including our own Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst. 

Grassley said the letter was needed to “educate” those ignorant Iranians. Apparently, he’s of the belief they just don’t understand our Constitution and how it works. 

Ernst said she supports the letter because she believes Congress should have a say in any nuclear arms agreement due to their importance in American and global safety. 

Current negotiations are headed towards a more executive agreement between the President and Iran’s leaders, and as such, would not require Congressional approval. A more formal treaty would, and as such, be more enforceable. 

Ernst may be right. Maybe an executive agreement isn’t the right approach. Maybe there should be a treaty that extends beyond the political careers of both leaders. 

I don’t think Grassley is right, and even if he is, he’s wrong. I find it hard to believe Iran’s government is filled with a bunch of bumbling idiots who don’t understand the basic tenets of the world’s largest superpower with whom they are negotiating. To think otherwise demonstrates a level of arrogance I didn’t realize Grassley possessed. 

But quite frankly, it doesn’t matter how right Ernst, or Grassley, or Cotton, or any of the other Senators are. 

Maybe Obama’s terms aren’t strict enough. Maybe Congress should have a say. Maybe the Iranians are a bunch of uneducated barbarians. 

That still doesn’t make this letter the right way to address those concerns. 

Here’s what those 47 Senators failed to realize: This letter not only undermined the authority of President Obama, it undermined the authority of the office of the president. 

Regretfully, in the prevailing culture of Washington, D.C. in which everything Obama does is wrong, Republicans have somehow forgotten who he is: the president of the United States, elected not once, but twice, by the American public 

They can’t, or refuse, to see past their own hatred for the man to show any respect for the office or the people who elected him to it. 

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.