WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Thomas Zimmer — The nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and Iran reached on Tuesday will challenge the relationship President Barack Obama has with the Republican and Democratic parties, experts told Sputnik.
“The real problem will be with some Democratic voters and many Democratic senators and congressmen who will oppose this [agreement],” Boston University Professor of Mass Communication and Public Relations Tobe Berkovitz said.
Berkovitz sees Obama having a hard time equally between Democratic voters and Republican ones.
He explained that Americans are much more concerned about domestic politics, especially the economy, and the Iran nuclear deal likely will not be much of an issue outside Washington, DC.
Berkovitz concluded the Iran deal will not make a great difference in the 2016 presidential election since the leading Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are likely to be for the agreement while most US Republican presidential candidates will be unanimously against it.
The Iran nuclear agreement will be a test for Republicans and Democrats and their ability to work with President Obama on political issues, Boston University Assistant Mass Communication Professor John Carroll told Sputnik.
“This is a litmus test for both Democrats and Republicans,” Carroll said. “I think it’s testing their relationship with Obama and testing their positions on foreign policy that’s going to be sort of emblematic of where they stand in terms of America in the world.”
Carroll explained the Iran deal will be especially troublesome for Hillary Clinton because she was for the deal previously, but is now expressing doubts by stating the need for verifying and oversight in implementing the agreement.
The professor noted Clinton has a clear record of where she has stood for in her political career, and her naiveté in stating the Iran deal will close the lid on Tehran’s nuclear program demonstrates “wishful thinking.”
“I think there’s a lot of verifying that needs to go on,” Carroll concluded. “And if any of that starts to look squirrely to the American public, that will elevate the issue to the presidential election level.”
University of Miami Communication Professor Thomas Steinfatt told Sputnik the Iran nuclear agreement will not separate Democrats and Republicans since that has been done already, and there appears some unity in their responses to the deal.
“It will be difficult to cause more division in the Congress between Democrats and Republicans than exists, and a number of Democrats appear to question it, without reading it, along with the vast majority of Republicans,” Steinfatt explained.
He stated the issue will come up big during the 2016 presidential campaign, but its importance will be lessened if Congress refuses to go along with the deal.
