General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy the Iran Deal Makes Obama's Critics So Angry (this also applies to liberal critics)
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/07/iran-nuclear-deal-obama/398450/?google_editors_picks=trueThe people here lambasting Obama's domestic achievements could do to take this to heart also:
The point is simple: In life, what matters most isnt how a decision compares to your ideal outcome. Its how it compares to the alternative at hand.
...
But lets assume that Obama, or George W. Bush before him, did outline goals that the current deal doesnt meet. So what? Those goals are irrelevant, unless Cotton and company have a plausible plan for achieving them by scrapping the existing deal, which they dont.
When critics focus incessantly on the gap between the present deal and a perfect one, what theyre really doing is blaming Obama for the fact that the United States is not omnipotent. This isnt surprising given that American omnipotence is the guiding assumption behind contemporary Republican foreign policy. Ask any GOP presidential candidate except Rand Paul what they propose doing about any global hotspot and their answer is the same: be tougher. America must take a harder line against Irans nuclear program, against ISIS, against Bashar al-Assad, against Russian intervention in Ukraine and against Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)While simultaneously bashing economic reformers. Nice.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)Hat trick? Three corner monte? Shell game (sans pea)? "Business" as usual?
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)The next president will have a difficult time keeping up with Obama in the realm of significant accomplishments. OK, it will be tough for a Democratic president. A Republican president could just stay busy repealing all the good things Obama did.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The Iran deal plus normalization with Cuba alone is historic.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Glad they got it done.
And anything that makes John McCain and Lindsey Graham flip out, is fine by me.
A toast to their tears of powerless rage!
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Iran isn't remotely in the same league as the US, economically, politically or militarily, the US rolled over Saddam's forces in days that the Iranians battled for years to stop.
You might recall Hillary's comment about "obliterating" Iran.