(L.A. Progressive) -- The decision by House Speaker John Boehner to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress before the Israeli elections is both outrageous and offensive.
Some have even suggested that for American lawmakers to effectively do an end run around President Obama and side with a foreign head of state – and allow that leader to speak before Congress for the sole purpose of embarrassing the president and undermining his policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program – amounts to treason. However, Boehner’s move is by no means surprising. Nevertheless, all of this should leave you wondering if they are treating the president in such a manner because he is black. And you need not wonder for too long.
In this case, any discussions about improper protocol and legitimate disagreements over foreign policy, however valid, miss the point. Both the GOP and Netanyahu’s Likud Party have a people of color problem. In other words, they don’t respect them. But they will scapegoat them as the outsider, the “other” and the foreign threat. And this attitude is reflected in their policies towards those people, and their treatment towards someone who is far above their pay grade.
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