How Obama is shrewdly using partisanship to sideline Netanyahu and save the Iran nuclear deal

Sometimes bipartisanship is the problem

Barack Obama
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Evan Vucci))

The conventional wisdom is that partisanship in Washington, D.C., is one of the biggest obstacles to solving America's most entrenched problems, from fixing the immigration system to closing the inequality gap. But if the fallout from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's forthcoming address to Congress is any indication, partisanship can be a pretty useful tool when it comes to upending the status quo.

Throughout the controversy, the White House has been happy to run its relationship with Netanyahu through the partisan vortex, helping splinter a bipartisan consensus that was once the most potent domestic threat to a U.S. rapport with Iran — a deal that would constitute the crowning accomplishment of President Obama's foreign policy legacy.

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.