HOW IT HAPPENED – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:   Yesterday's committee vote on the Iran nuclear program didn't come about by accident.  The brilliant work of Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, shaping the legislation to achieve bipartisan support, was a major factor.  But other events conspired against the president's rigid opposition to Congressional action.  From Jennifer Rubin at WaPo: 

We can trace events to Speaker of the House John Boehner’s decision to invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress. The White House’s overreaction and openly expressed venom followed by Netanyahu’s masterful speech turned the national discussion, for the first time, to the substance of the Iran deal. Once the president was forced to fess up that there would be a sunset clause and that we would be leaving Iran with its nuclear infrastructure — facts that were only revealed in an Obama interview on the eve of (and in anticipation of) Netanyahu’s speech — the scene was set for a full explication of the dangers of such concessions. Observers could also see that the administration had slid from dismantling Iran’s nuclear capability to managing it.

And...

The next nail in Obama’s coffin was the framework itself. It was a fig leaf, unilaterally presented to conceal a lack of agreement on numerous key issues. But once again it had the effect of shocking the body politic and raising real concerns about the president’s judgment. The administration announced it as an “historic” deal, but over the weeks that followed the White House had to acknowledge there were lots and lots of fundamental issues to resolve.

Obama’s position was further eroded by an op-ed from former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz, who dissected the framework. That caught the attention of Democrats and of the foreign policy community, rendering ridiculous the president’s claim that opposition was simply unhinged partisanship. And finally, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s public repudiation of the U.S. fact sheet and public insistence on unattainable concessions laid bare a reality Democrats had deflected: The president was wildly casting concessions at the Iranians, getting nothing and systematically making it easier not harder for Iran to both lift sanctions and preserve the option of a nuclear breakout.

COMMENT:  I think that's a fair summary.  Even Democrats have to admit, although few will do so publicly, that this administration is grossly incompetent.  Either that, or grossly deceitful.  I'd imagine that many sane Democrats, and there are some left, can't wait for Obama to leave office. 

April 15, 2015