Merli Column: Words matter

If Virginia Republicans need any further example of why they’ve been on the ropes these days — culminating in the loss of the governor’s mansion, both U.S. Senate seats, and the White House in
recent years — they need look no further than some of their leaders’ strident cries for the president to become more verbally entrenched in the Iran crisis.

I use the term “leaders” loosely since even many GOP supporters seem to concede they currently have no one person or group that speaks for the party. (Not too unusual for a party regrouping, but
nevertheless, there it is.) So in recent weeks (with radio talk personalities aside), Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and other GOP lawmakers seem to be the titular leaders right now. And several of
them in recent days have tried to goad Barack Obama into involving himself (and thus, the U.S.) more dramatically into the Iran fiasco than he deems feasible.

At least two GOP lawmakers should know better. McCain is oddly demonstrating why it’s a good thing he’s not sitting in the Oval Office these days. That’s assuming he really believes that interjecting an
American president directly into such a conflict at this stage would not somehow strengthen the hand of the current Iranian government. In reality, McCain may actually know better, but let’s remember
the senator’s power source is the uber-conservative state of Arizona — where, unlike Virginia and most other states — Republicans continue to enjoy a lot of support.

Sen. Graham, while often as partisan as his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, at times seems among the savviest members of the Senate. He is known to demonstrate fair amounts of wisdom in his
demeanor, perhaps reminiscent of another southern senator of yesteryear, Howard Baker of Tennessee. Consequently, Graham’s recent John Wayne-like rhetoric that Obama was being too “timid” in his
approach to Iran seemed eerily reminiscent of another politician whose foresight also barely seemed to extend beyond his nose — George W. Bush and his now-regretted “Bin Laden dead-or-alive”
braggadocio.

While McCain is widely seen as a maverick within his own party, and Graham is anything but one, it’s both fascinating and troubling to see both men use the same tired, desperate, simple-minded bash
against the president over an overseas flare-up that has yet to fully play out on the world stage (for better or for worse).

It also perhaps hints at how far some elements of the GOP are willing to go to try to gain a foothold — anything! — against a still-popular president. They’re willing to publicly criticize (with the clear intent
of politically weakening) an American commander-in-chief on the basis of another nation’s uprising of which the U.S. is not involved, and for which the president can in no way be held responsible. Is this
really a good time to foster any notion of a weak president, and thus, a weak country? With two wars underway and a crippling economy that much of the world already blames us for? In short, the
transparent expediency of McCain and Graham’s rhetoric is breathtaking both for its churlishness (even by current Washington standards) and the dangerous naivety inherent in their foolish and bullying
taunts.

Some Republicans here in the Commonwealth and on Capitol Hill may be suffering from short-term memory loss, but when similar short-sighted, speak-now-and-think later rhetoric poured forth from the
tired mouths of the previous administration in power, we all witnessed the international wounds (physical and symbolic) that resulted, and that the rest of us are now stuck coping with for years to come.

At the same time, the president himself should be careful not to allow criticism of his measured responses to assuage his better instincts. His latest comments on Iran this week at his press conference
were noticeably stronger in tone — no doubt pleasing some of his short-sighted critics — but ironically coming very close to encouraging the powers in Iran who are looking for any excuse to lay the
blame for their self-made troubles squarely at America’s feet.

With all due respect to FDR, these days what we might value most is the disciplined ability of elected officials on this side of the world to “talk softly and carry a big stick.“

John Merli has been a Prince William County resident since 1984 and Potomac News columnist since 1985. He has worked in the media for more than 30 years. E-mail him at .