No Ron Fournier, and Joe Scarborough, it’s not the same

This morning at about 7, Ron Fournier of the relatively center National Journal and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe posed the following question between them:

What if GOP senators during Cuban Missile Crisis had told Russians not to deal with a young, overmatched JFK?

It’s a very interesting speculation.

1) The Russians were completely deterrable as were we. Whereas, Ayatollah Khomeini said point blank …“We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.“ Of course, Khameinei has been even MORE ‘firm’ in his ‘regard’ for both the great Satan and Israel.

2) Kennedy brought Senate and House leaders, Republican & Democratic, in BEFORE declaring the embargo, an action which both demonstrated his leadership, unvarnished concern for American strength (and safety through that), and his desire and NEED for congressional bipartisan advice and consent, and cooperation

3) The disposition of forces, such as the Naval exclusion zone, and ultimate removal of the Jupiter IRBM’s (to be replaced as everyone understood by the coming Polaris submarine patrols) are issues WITHOUT DISPUTE under the purview of the executive, a TREATY with an inimical nation, who directly threatens our ally is NOT

4) Obama, through the recordings of his key adviser on Iran, Ben Rhodes made clear his plan ..PLAN.. to exclude congress from any consideration OR VOICE in a critical treaty action (Mosaic Magazine) for the specific reason of difficulty in convincing a recently elected Congress of what was in our best interest

5) Obama has established a HISTORY and desire of bypassing congress, and from his moment of telling McCain ‘Elections have consequences’ a modus of failure to work towards any painful and real bipartisan compromises, whereas because the Democratic Party in Congress was dominated by segregationist Southerners, Kennedy and Johnson could not have achieved the successes they did in racial equality without reaching out to Republicans. Kennedy cultivated friendships with Republicans like John Sherman Cooper and Barry Goldwater.

6) This president, UNLIKE JFK’s Churchillian stand, was arguing, like Viscount Halifax at the end of May 1940, that a bargain to be struck was only the best bargain which could be made and therefore should be struck, and the Republicans were standing as Churchill did, that perhaps no bargain at all is the best bargain for our values as a civilization.

Finally this letter was as much a warning to Obama as it was to the Islamist leaders of Iran. The course this president is embarked on, will bring the nation to a series of constitutional crises.