WASHINGTON — It seems that House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give a joint address to Congress has caused problems for just about everyone.
The surreptitious nature of the invite — the White House didn’t even know about it — drew criticism from Democrats, who saw it as a slight to President Barack Obama. Elder foreign policy hands deemed it a breach of protocol. Even some pro-Israel voices worried it would pit the country against one of the two major political parties in the U.S.
But beyond the backlash Boehner has faced, the Netanyahu flap has also presented a conundrum for Democrats who are eager to display their alliance with the Israeli leader but have serious concerns about the timing of his visit. The U.S. is in the midst of delicate talks with Iran over its nuclear program, and Democrats fear Netanyahu will undermine those talks by pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran.
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Boehner’s camp, naturally, has dismissed complaints about broken protocol as overwrought and politically motivated. At his Thursday press conference, the speaker showed no signs of regret or second-guessing.
“It was a very good idea,” Boehner said of his invitation. “There is a message that the American people need to hear and I think he is the perfect person to deliver it.”
