TigerHawk and I hash it out.
I am an Iran hawk who is opposed to the Iran sanctions legislation because I think it tries, foolishly but, alas, familiarly, to turn a policy dispute into a legal problem — in violation of the Constitution and with the result that Congress (and, ultimately, the federal courts) instead of the president run American foreign policy.
The Bush administration has not done a good job on Iran policy, but the answer to that problem is politcal persuasion and pressure, not laws that purport to tie the president’s hands. The administration is right to oppose the law, no matter how much bipartisan support it has. There is always strong bipartisan support in Congress for laws that purport the allow Congress to exercise presidential power. But such laws are unconstitutional and, in the long run, very unwise.