Iran Deal: Two Profiles in CYA

Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD)

Iran Deal: Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin's late-in-the-day opposition to President Obama's nuclear appeasement pact with Tehran is as self-serving as it gets. He could have helped lead a movement to head off this catastrophe.

What took Maryland's Cardin so long? He's the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He read the Iran deal over a month and a half ago.

Yet only now, with President Obama having the 34 Senate Democrat votes he needs to sustain a veto of an opposition resolution, and when his vote means nothing, Cardin says he can't vote for the deal.

Cardin took to the op-ed page of the Washington Post, warning that under the Obama deal, after 10 or 15 years, Iran can "produce enough enriched fuel for a nuclear weapon in a short time." After Iran gets sanctions relief, he wrote, "it will be difficult to effectively re-impose sanctions to prevent a nuclear breakout."

Cardin announced he'll introduce a bill on steps the U.S. will take if Tehran violates the nuclear agreement, including a requirement that the administration report how Iran is spending its $150 billion in sanctions relief.

To use an impolite term, this is all CYA on Cardin's part. Jewish himself, he has many pro-Israel supporters to please. He also wishes to retain credibility as the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel.

But this massive foreign policy mistake is a moment of historic consequence. It cried out for statesmanship from the Senate Democrats who saw it for what it was.

Cardin could have joined with the presumptive next Senate Democrat leader, New York's Chuck Schumer, who announced his opposition last month, to urge their fellow Democrats to kill this deal.

Instead, both served themselves. They can say they voted against it. The truth is neither had the courage to put U.S. security before his relations with Obama.

Read the rest of this IBD editorial HERE.

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