Kerby Anderson

Occasionally I use the phrase, “Politics stops at the water’s edge” when talking on radio. I really didn’t know the full history of the phrase until reading an editorial by former Senator Joe Lieberman.

After World War II, Senator Arthur Vandenberg (a Michigan Republican who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee) formed a bipartisan partnership with President Harry Truman. He did so to help secure the postwar peace and strengthen the country’s position in the Cold War. When asked why he worked so closely with a Democratic president, he replied that, “Politics stops at the water’s edge.”

Joe Lieberman provided this history lesson for some of his fellow Democrats who simply would not acknowledge that taking out Qasem Soleimani was in our best interests and made Americans safer. He felt this action by the president deserved bipartisan support rather than the negative reactions promoted by his fellow Democrats.

He reminds them that this terrorist leader “created, supported, and directed a network of terrorist organizations that spread havoc in the Middle East.” He oversaw various camps with elite Quds Force fighters and Iraqi militias. They were responsible for the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers.

He also questions the claim by some Democrats that the president had no authority to order this attack without congressional approval. He said such criticism was “constitutionally untenable and practically senseless.” The authority to act is inherent in the powers granted to the president. He reminds them that the previous president ordered drone strikes on dangerous terrorist leaders including one who was born in the US.

I am grateful that he is encouraging his fellow Democrats to leave politics at “the water’s edge” and stand together against Iran and terrorist leaders.