On Morning Joe Wednesday, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said the White House left Secretary of State John Kerry to look like a beached whale.
On April 2, the White House announced an agreement had been reached with Iran in regard to its nuclear program. Many lawmakers expressed concerns about the released details of the agreement.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and ranking minority member Ben Cardin (D., Md.) agreed to a bipartisan legislation that would give congressional oversight. The legislation was passed unanimously out of committee at a 19-0 vote.
The Obama administration sent senior officials like Kerry to Capitol Hill to lobby against the Corker-Cardin legislation. Eventually, the White House reversed course and said Obama would not veto the bill.
"They reversed course as late as 11:30—John Kerry was saying we really need you to vote against this," Ignatius said.
"The White House counted the votes and they realized they were getting clobbered. So they turned course and left Kerry looking like a beached whale, frankly, defending the position they have abandoned him. We now have a rare 19-0 bipartisan vote supporting a bill the president didn't want to see and realized he had no alternative."