Bill Straub: McConnell’s actions bespeak of hostility that extends far beyond politics

WASHINGTON – As the Ides of March approach, it doth appear that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has assumed an increasingly lean and hungry look.

McConnell, outmaneuvered by Democrats when he sought to reverse President Obama’s executive orders protecting about 5 million undocumented workers from deportation, is now exposing his bile through other means. The Louisville lawmaker joined 46 other Republicans in the upper chamber — so are they all honorable men — in seeking to not only undermine the Obama administration’s ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program but act as if the White House no longer exists.

McConnell was a signatory to a letter composed by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and dispatched to the rulers of Iran informing them that regardless of any agreement that might be reached it won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. The Senate won’t approve any deal and covenant that emerges will dry up and blow away when Obama leaves office in 2017.

The 47 senators are imposing themselves in ongoing talks aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear weapons research, an initiative that forms a threat to the Middle East and the world. In return for Iran’s cooperation, the U.S. is discussing alleviating economic sanctions that are crippling that country.

Republicans have expressed concerns that the U.S. will leave the table with an inferior, even dangerous, deal. As a result, the 47 GOP lawmakers inserted themselves in talks that have always been the imprimatur of the executive branch. The move was unprecedented and some critics maintain the unwelcomed kibitzing not only violates the law but could be dealt with as treason.

While claims of sedition might be overwrought, the incident certainly raises questions over whether McConnell should be permitted to retain the high political position he has assiduously pursued for most of his public life. It appears his personal animus – and that’s a polite term – for President Obama is coloring his actions. And that simply can’t be to the nation’s benefit.

McConnell is the chosen leader of Senate Republicans, the party that now holds a majority in the upper chamber. Cotton, the letter’s author who apparently has his eyes set on becoming secretary of state, is a freshman lawmaker who has spent less than two months in office. It seems obvious that McConnell could have put his foot down and quashed the effort in its larval stage. If nothing else, he could have refused to put his name on it, thus depriving the communique of any influence it might otherwise carry.

But exhibiting the sort of hubris that is astonishing even for him, McConnell signed on the dotted line. It’s worth noting that Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who acknowledges some trepidation in dealing with the mullahs in Iran, nonetheless refused to offer his endorsement for the document.

As usual, McConnell refused to acknowledge any regrets about barging into the negotiations like a drunk at a church wedding, telling reporters that the honorable men acted because the administration wasn’t taking their feelings into account … poor boys.

Of course there’s a reason for that.

The letter intends to emasculate the manner in which the United States has handled foreign policy since the founding of the republic. It represents an unprecedented breach of well-established protocol that has been accepted under both Democratic and Republican administrations. The constitution, which Republicans wave at regular intervals for violations both real and imagined, limits congressional involvement in foreign policy, designating the president as the “sole organ’’ in dealing with offshore authorities.

It also has been contended the missive might even violate the Logan Act, adopted in 1799, which prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It should be noted that no one has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act, but it’s not very often that individuals – senators or not – openly attack the nation’s foreign policy processes.

So this is no ordinary thing, and it’s not even the first time that McConnell, who has led the Senate majority for less than two months, has in unwarranted fashion inserted himself in foreign affairs. His staff worked behind the scenes with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to arrange for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress last month without informing or coordinating with the White House – an obvious act of defiance and a ludicrous breach of protocol.

McConnell’s actions throughout the six years of the Obama administration bespeak of a hostility that extends far beyond politics. The senator from Kentucky has, for still unexplained reasons, turned his legitimate differences with the president into a personal fight, a nasty dispute that ill serves the nation.

McConnell made it clear from the outset of the Obama administration in 2013 that he was not part of the loyal opposition – just the opposition. He openly declared that his top priority would be to prevent Obama from winning a second term – a goal he obviously failed to meet. He later bragged that his strategy as Republican leader was to deny the president a cloak of bipartisanship by opposing the administration on any and all fronts – a grievous display of arrogance that has done the country real harm.

Regardless, Obama and the Democrats have, for the most part, managed to outmaneuver McConnell and his attempts at gridlock. The administration’s economic policies, slowed by GOP recalcitrance, nonetheless led the U.S. out of its deepest abyss since the Great Depression.

Obama prevailed in enacting the health care reform law that popularly bears his name. Much to McConnell’s consternation the Environmental Protection Administration continues to take an aggressive stance to address global climate change and, of course, he has offered some protection to about 5 million undocumented workers who might otherwise face deportation. And don’t forget McConnell was embarrassed when Obama succeeded in raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year.

All of that has irritated McConnell, who fancies himself a political genius. Now, in order to get back in the game, McConnell is inserting himself in an area where he absolutely doesn’t belong – setting foreign policy. In so doing, the fearless leader and his comrades are not only trying to scotch a deal but to undermine U.S. foreign policy.

All, apparently, because of a one-sided, personal feud with the president.

The ides are upon us. It would do McConnell good to remember the words of Cassius in Shakespeare’s great play, Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’’

Washington correspondent Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.