Just my opinion, you understand, your mileage may vary

Many years ago,[1] I watched the Oprah Winfrey Show[2] and there I saw Oprah dressed in her pajamas along with the late Maya Angelou. They were discussing relationships and in the usual chit and chat that goes on about this sort of thing, Ms. Angelou said something that has stuck with me ever since.  She told Oprah that when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.  If a man tells you that he is cruel or mean or incapable of loyalty, then believe him, Ms. Angelou said; they know themselves better than you ever will. It seems to me that this is a wonderful piece of advice, not merely for dealing with interpersonal relationships, but for international relationships as well.  Today, the former junior Senator from Illinois is proposing a treaty with the Islamic Republic of Iran that will give that nation, assuming they do not cheat, the ability to construct a nuclear weapon in ten years’ time.  The former junior Senator from Illinois is throwing considerable amounts of political capital into pushing this treaty through Congress, although he himself will not call it a treaty, as doing so would require a two-thirds vote from the Senate, and he doesn’t have the votes to do this. Should it pass, however, he will act as though it were a treaty, so I suppose the difference between the two words is trifling.  We are already getting a foretaste of what will happen if it does not; not since St. John Chrysostom’s homilies in the fourth century has Jew-baiting been so eloquent.  When people who support him and his treaty think that his recent speeches on the subject sound remarkably like something one might hear at a white power rally, then the former junior Senator from Illinois has passed a red line that he should not pass.

And what is the object of all of this hubbub? A deal with a regime that predicates its existence on its hatred for the United States and Israel in particular and the West in general, that has committed numerous acts of terrorism, that seized an American embassy and held (and still holds) American citizens hostage, a regime that the State Department calls the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world today; these are the people we are dealing with.  And why?  Because the Iranians are going nuclear and this administration does not want to stop them.  They do not want to stop the Iranians because the only real way to stop them is by force or by regime change through covert action, and this administration does not want to use force or covert action. Having removed the only two real ways to prevent this disaster, the administration must pin its hopes on a piece of paper and convince as many people as possible that this piece of paper has some actual merit.  

 In reality, the only thing this agreement does is guarantee that when Iran does go nuclear, our Illinois Incitatus will no longer be in office and then can blame its failure on almost everyone except himself. I strongly suspect that our fearless leader will be as ungracious with his successors as he was with his predecessor.  Again, and why is that?  Because nothing is ever his fault, because something being his fault would disturb his self-image, and nothing and no one will ever be allowed to disturb his self-image.  Therefore, he makes deals with people who mock him even as he gets ready to do their bidding and insults those who are trying to save him from committing a massive mistake. In short, his ego is getting in the way of what Ms. Angelou pointed out back in the 1990’s.  The Iranians are showing everyone who and what they are and anyone with any sense believes them when they spew their hatred at us.  Only the former junior Senator from Illinois and his true believers do not, but then, they are not the ones who will have to deal with the consequences of this agreement, are they?

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[1] Well, maybe not that many years ago, as years go. When you get to my age, years seem to zoom by.

[2] I think I was sick that day.