One of the defining precepts of the American Republic from its earliest days to today has been that the president of the United States represents the country in its dealings with the world. It is a view which the Supreme Court unambiguously endorsed in 1936 in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp:
"In this vast external realm, with its important, complicated, delicate and manifold problems, the President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude, and Congress itself is powerless to invade it. As Marshall said in his great argument of March 7, 1800, in the House of Representatives, 'The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations.'"
This consensus, respected by both parties for much of American history, is why John Boehner's sly decision to offer Benjamin Netanyahu a congressional platform to attack President Obama's negotiations with Iran may represent a watershed moment both for the Republican Party and American support for Israel. It's unclear whether the invitation says more about Republicans' confusion about who precisely they've been sent to Washington to represent, or more about the weakening influence of the conservative pro-Israel group AIPAC as pro-peace, pro-Israel groups like J Street andJewish Voice for Peace have come on the scene. What seems clear is that when even Chris Wallace of Fox News is calling the Netanyahu-Boehner manoeuvre behind President Obama's back "wicked," then something has gone very wrong with the Republican sense of the national interest.
More: Boehner Makes Republicans 'Tools and Dupes' of Netanyahu's Election Campaign - David Miles
I agree with Chris Wallace of Fox News. It is "wicked"...
