47% of the U. S. Senate tells a foreign government not to trust us

Ralf Michaels, chaired professor, Duke University School of Law draws a deeper lesson from the controversy over the 47 senators' Letter to the Iranians than is being debated on Capitol Hill and by our media pundits.    He says that the damage goes far beyond the insult to the intelligence of the Iranian cabinet and its Foreign Minister who has a PhD in International Relations from a U. S. university;   it goes far beyond the letter's inaccuracies in constitutional law;   it goes far beyond the politicization of such a sensitive international moment and the disrespect for the office of the president and its current occupant.

Professor Michaels says that the critics have been outraged, but mostly for the wrong reasons.   To quote his editorial on the Huffington Post:

"What the letter says is essentially this: The word from the United States, as expressed by its head of state, has no value. We, the United States, should not be trusted. . . .  It warns our other allies to avoid entering into international agreements with us, because we may simply "revoke" them. . . . 

"This letter, therefore, does damage not only to President Obama, the office of the president, and the Senate as a respectable institution. The letter undermines the very standing of the United States in the World. . . . 

"The revocation of a binding international agreement . . . is a 'blatant violation of international law.'

"Now, the senators might of course say they do not care, that they would rather violate international law than risk an Iranian nuclear bomb. But their letter has broader implications, and it is astonishing that it takes the Iranian foreign minister to point them out: The letter 'undermines the credibility of thousands of such 'mere executive agreements' that have been or will be entered into by the US with various other governments' . . . .  Are the Republican senators really saying they do not feel bound by them? Should those other countries not feel bound either? . . .

"The United States has done much, since its founding, to earn the decent respect of mankind that the founders felt the country needed since the moment of foundation. But in directly asking foreign countries to mistrust us, Republicans are, it seems, intentionally trying to throw away what remains of this respect. It is hard to see how this could be good for the country."

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There is nothing I can add except to thank Professor Michaels for such clarity and knowledge.   Let's hope there is some soul-searching among at least a few of those 47 senators, asking themselves why they allowed themselves to get stampeded by this two-month old upstart senator from Arkansas.    Is the political bubble so strong around Washington that they have lost their way?

It appears they have.    We cannot let the country follow them.    Some of them will be up for re-election in 2016.   Take note.

Ralph