It is amazing the machinations this administration will go through in an attempt to pass what is clearly a proposed treaty obligation for the US. “By any means necessary” comes to mind. Here we have the Secretary of State for the United States clearly implying that the UN has superior “rights” to the US and further implying that if the UN votes “yes”, we must vote “yes” as well. To believe otherwise is “presumptuous”.

Secretary of State John Kerry deflected bipartisan criticism of the Obama administration’s move to take the Iran nuclear deal to the United Nations before the U.S. Congress has the opportunity to vote on it, saying the U.N. has a right to go first and to suggest otherwise was “presumptuous.”

[…]

Pressed by Jon Karl in an interview airing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” to respond to such criticism, Kerry said of the U.N. voting first, “They have a right to do that. Honestly, it’s presumptuous of some people to suspect that France, China, Russia, Germany, Britain ought to do what the Congress tells them to do. They have a right to have a vote.”

While the UN can certainly vote and it has that “right”, its vote in no way overshadows or preempts the vote of the US Senate. And, as I recall it, the Constitution is very clear about Senatorial power in approving or disapproving any treaty obligation. The obvious attempt here is to cloud that issue with the vote of an organization that didn’t exist when the Constitutional power for the Senate was granted.

In fact, even one Senate Democrat is a little taken aback by this attempt to undermine their Constitutional authority.

This strategy has not only received criticism from Republicans, but also from Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who called the move “presumptuous.”

The strategy, such that it is, is to have a UN vote before the Senate vote and then if the Senate votes no, the administration can claim they’re “blowing up” a UN approved deal.

My reaction?  So what?  The Senate’s job is to “blow up” bad deals for the US.

A bad deal is a bad deal, and many, many bad deals have been “UN approved”.  This is truly a bad deal and should be voted down by the Senate.  As is usual with this administration, they show no subtlety or nuance when trying to work with Congress.  Just raw bullying and shenanigans worthy of a tin-pot dictatorship.

This ploy shouldn’t work. It should truly incense Democrats in the Senate. It is a direct attack on their Constitutional powers.  It at least appears to have incensed one.  However, it is the Senate vote that will tell, and the track record of Democrats toeing the party line and voting for truly awful deals (see ObamaCare among many others) isn’t at all a rare occurrence.

~McQ