海角大神

Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio has invited the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the House of Representatives. On聽March 3, Netanyahu will make a forceful case for new sanctions against Iran, which Speaker Boehner supports and President Obama opposes. Boehner did not touch base with the White House ahead of time, a move that聽press secretary Josh Earnest聽called a departure from protocol. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi criticized the invitation as 鈥渋nappropriate.鈥�

What鈥檚 going on here?

This is not the first time that a congressional leader has raised partisan ire by making contact with a foreign head of government. In 1984, majority leader Jim Wright (D) of Texas and nine other House Democrats wrote to Daniel Ortega, the chief of the Marxist junta that ruled Nicaragua. The signers opposed the Reagan administration鈥檚 policy of aiding rebel forces fighting the junta. Republican Newt Gingrich, at the time a backbench House member from Georgia, said that the letter聽''clearly violates the constitutional separation of powers. It's at best unwise, and at worst illegal.鈥� In 2007, Pelosi herself went to Damascus to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a visit that聽President George W. Bush called聽鈥渃ounterproductive.鈥�

In the current case, there is more at work than a simple disagreement over a specific policy. Congressional Republicans have accused the president of stretching the limits of his constitutional authority over a variety of foreign and domestic issues. But they face serious constraints in responding. They can try to curb the president through legislation, but bills that pass the House must then go through the Senate, where the Democratic minority can stop them through the filibuster. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, and the Senate GOP only has 54.聽 Even if the House and Senate voted for a bill to limit executive power, the president could veto it, and it would take a two-thirds vote in both chambers to override the veto. That鈥檚 not likely to happen.

Litigation is an even tougher route than legislation. The judiciary typically avoids getting into disputes between the other branches, saying that they are 鈥減olitical questions鈥� for elected officials to work out. When cases do proceed, they can move very slowly. The House is suing the president over Obamacare, and the outside attorney handling the case has a contract聽extending until 2017.

But the invitation to the prime minister is something that the speaker can do all by himself.聽Though Boehner denies聽that it is a 鈥減oke in the eye鈥� to the president, one may reasonably speculate that there is an implicit message: If you stretch your authority, we鈥檒l stretch ours.

It makes sense that this maneuver involves Netanyahu, who has聽long had warm relations聽with Republicans.聽As a young corporate adviser at Boston Consulting in 1976, he developed a close bond with an up-and-coming colleague named Mitt Romney. His first stint as prime minister started in 1996, and one of his campaign advisers at the time was an聽American who had worked with Republican candidates.聽Soon after his victory, he spoke to a joint meeting of聽Congress. His conservative message on economics and foreign policy thrilled GOP lawmakers. 鈥淭hat's as Republican as it gets,鈥� Rep. Matt Salmon (R) of Arizona told聽USA Today.

Republicans tend to be strong supporters of Israel, and the feeling is mutual.聽Surveys in 2012聽found that people in most other countries preferred President Obama to Mitt Romney, but in Israel,聽Romney led Obama, 57 to 22 percent. Netanyahu has his own election coming up, and it may not hurt him if Israeli voters see him as standing up to the Obama White House.

So the Republicans have a chance to give the president some constitutional pushback, and the prime minister has a chance to score some electoral points. As they鈥檇 say at Boston Consulting, it鈥檚 a win-win.

Jack Pitney writes his Looking for Trouble blog exclusively for the Monitor.