I don't remember the last time a letter from a bunch of senators generated as much news as the one Senator Tom Cotton and 46 other Republicans sent on Monday to the government of Iran. It's quite a coup for Cotton himself, and something of a black eye for the Republicans, given that it has generated so much criticism from across the political spectrum. But it's time that everyone take a breath on this. Was the letter a terrible idea? Yes. Does it reflect the Republicans' essential contempt for Barack Obama and their unwillingness to accept his legitimacy? Yes. But let's try to keep our heads here. The word "treason" is getting tossed around a lot, and that's just ridiculous.
That particular ball got rolling with the front page of Tuesday's New York Daily News, which you've seen by now. The hashtag #47traitors quickly became huge on Twitter. News outlets started running "Is This Treason?" stories (see here or here or here). Somebody started a petition on whitehouse.gov to charge the 47 senators with treason; as of now it has mroe than 200,000 signatures.
I certainly contributed, in some small way, to making this a big story. On Monday, shortly after the letter was released, I wrote this post about it at the Plum Line, which turned out to be extremely popular, generating lots of clicks and nearly 5,000 comments. I attribute that less to any razor-sharp insight the post contained than to good timing and the fact that it had some outrage, which frankly readers love. I'm not sorry I wrote it-I still think the letter was wildly inappropriate. But it wasn't anything resembling treason.
Liberals ought to be particularly sensitive about this, given how conservatives treated us in the early 2000s. It was common to hear people who objected to the Iraq War or the USA PATRIOT Act described as pro-terrorist, pro-Saddam, anti-American, and yes, treasonous. It was a vile calumny, and not just because it was mean. What we objected to so strongly at the time was the conservative contention that if you said that the policies of the current administration were wrong, that meant you were taking a stand against America itself. That's a profoundly undemocratic idea.
Republicans still believe that, as long as it's a Republican president we're talking about. For instance, if you ask them for evidence for their belief that Barack Obama hates America, the best thing they'll be able to come up with is a few quotes in which he criticized the policies and decisions of previous administrations, like the Bush administration's torture program. That they can say that and in the next breath issue fiery denunciations of the current administration's policies is a feat of truly spectacular hypocrisy, but doesn't provide any justification for liberals using the same rhetorical tactics.
To repeat, the Republican senators' attempt to torpedo the ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program was certainly abominable. They can object to what they think the deal will look like all they want, and if they choose to they can try to stop it through legislation or some other means within their power. But to communicate directly with the Iranian government in order to sabotage the deal during the negotiations is way beyond the bounds of reasonable behavior.
That doesn't make it treason, however. Not even close. Calling it that doesn't do this administration or any liberal ideal any good at all.
