Defense9 February 2015

Notes from Norm: The Real Danger of a Speech

As President Obama, Vice President Biden and a growing legion of Democrats in the U.S. House vent their manufactured outrage at a speech by the Prime Minister of Israel before Congress, Secretary of State John Kerry is desperately trying to secure an agreement with Iran regarding their nuclear ambitions.

This past weekend the earnest, if ineffective, Secretary of State ruled out an extension of talks with the Iranian regime if an agreement cannot be reached in the next few weeks.

In a transcript of his interview on “Meet the Press” that was partially published in the Washington Post, Kerry said “…the only chance I can see of an extension at this point in time would be that you really have the outlines of the agreement..You understand exactly what you’re doing.”

But, Kerry seemed to acknowledge that knowing exactly what we’re doing vis a vis an agreement with Iran is hardly obvious to the Obama Administration – much less the rest of the world.

In a few weeks Prime Minister Netanyahu is slated to address Congress.  There can be no doubt that one of his reasons for doing so is to further raise alarm at the threat of a nuclear Iran.  An Iran that has made it abundantly clear time and time again of its ambitions to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

The President is angry because the Prime Minister didn’t seek permission to speak before Congress.  He is also angry because he doesn’t want the alarm bells over his negotiations with Iran to sound as loudly in America as they have been ringing in Israel.

Why Democrats in Congress – who have, themselves, expressed serious reservations about the President’s approach to dealing with Iran – would feel compelled to stay away from hearing, first-hand, from the leader of the nation of our closest ally about the very real threat to his country is beyond me.

This isn’t a diplomatic kerfuffle.  This is diplomatic subterfuge.

Not on the part of America’s closest ally.  But, on the part of a President who reaches so far back in history to lecture us on the sins of Christianity but is incapable of looking over his teleprompter to understand the sins that radical Islam and its leading Mullahs can have on the safety and security of the free world.

Iran cannot destroy Israel through conventional means.

They know this.  Israel knows this.

The President ought to know this.

There is a growing fear in Israel that the President is too eager to reach some sort of historic agreement with Iran that will allow their nuclear ambitions to remain largely intact.

His easy capacity to wave off 50 years of tyranny, torture, repression and murder from the Castro Regime in Cuba can do nothing to assuage the concerns of the Israeli people or its leaders.

Putting aside the logistics of how Prime Minister Netanyahu came to be invited to address Congress in March, can there be any legitimate reason any lawmaker in Congress would turn their back on one of our most necessary allies?

Who benefits from this slap in the face of the Prime Minister?

More importantly, what is to be gained by sending the perception across the world that the United States government – its President, Vice President and leading members of their party – are so easily upset by a speech from our ally?

A speech, while not pre-approved through diplomatic nicety, will do nothing more than further inform all of us of the concerns of our ally.

Losing sight of the bigger issue has always been the design of the Obama Administration.

When Americans were killed in Benghazi we were told it was something that happened so long ago it wasn’t worth talking about.  While the IRS was victimizing average Americans we were told it was much ado about nothing.  As ISIS grew into one of the greatest threats against the safety and security of our allies and our own country, the President pompously dismissed their capabilities of being comparable to a junior varsity sports team.

As Iran buys more time – furthering its nuclear ambitions – the President is waging a campaign against a speech by the leader of Israel as though the words he will speak before Congress are something we should not hear.

This much must be clear:  The words the Prime Minister of Israel will speak are exactly the words that America and the world must hear.  

In the end, it may be the only way he can actually get the attention of this President that the greatest threat to Israel is not the speech he hopes to give before Congress.

The greatest threat to Israel is that the President is spending more time listening to the speeches by the Iranian Regime than he is to the concerns from our allies.