Tom Cotton and his 47 fellow senators have quickly become subjects of  interest even to citizens who hadn’t been paying much attention to the partisan divide in American government.  Senator Cotton’s letter to Iranian Leadership is just the latest example of blatant determination by some members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to discredit and undermine the presidency of Barack Obama.  Citizens of both parties have expressed surprise that the letter to “the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” could actually have been signed by as many at 47 Republican senators.  Undoubtedly some of the signatories are wishing they had read more carefully and thought longer before they affixed their names to the letter.  Several Republicans are scurrying to distance themselves from it. Others have decided the best self defense is to blame the President saying if it were not for Obama’s failure to consult lawmakers about the negotiations the letter wouldn’t have had to be written.  

Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, “I think that, no doubt, the fact that the president, you know, issued a veto threat on a very common-sense piece of legislation, probably evoked, you know, a good deal of passion.”  The Corker statement makes about as much sense as the Cotton letter. 

This is sounding too much like a Saturday Night Live skit, so I’ll stop and post a pretty picture I got over on University Avenue this morning.