Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a very simple message for a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday: America is pretty great.
Netanyahu also cast America as the prime mover in Iran talks, the country that had the most cards to play. "They need the deal a lot more than you do," Netanyahu said at one point of Iran and the ongoing nuclear talks. "You have the power to make them need it even more."
That message was greeted with open arms -- and standing ovations -- by Republicans (and even some Democrats) who have often been critical of President Obama's alleged apologies for America on the world stage.
It’s good to have a truly courageous leader addressing the Congress today #NetanyahuSpeech pic.twitter.com/tLp85V4mVF
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 3, 2015
Why do we have to invite a foreign leader to #Congress to make so much sense to express a coherent security strategy & to unite America?
— Rep. Garret Graves (@RepGarretGraves) March 3, 2015
Rather than standing behind our allies, Pres. Obama has thrown himself in front of them as an obstacle to be circumvented. #BibiSpeech #tcot
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) March 3, 2015
The takeaway? Despite Netanyahu's "deep regret" that his speech had become a political football, it was. (Worth noting: Netanyahu singled out Obama for a paragraph of praise very high up in the speech.)
Yes, his aggressive, uncompromising and strongly America-hell-yeah rhetoric was used by Republicans as a contrast to the weakness they see in Obama. Democrats, too, though made very clear their resistance to the whole idea of the speech because of an alleged breach of protocol -- and snubbing of the White House -- by Speaker John Boehner.
The lesson, as (almost) always: Nothing gets in the way of politics in Washington.