Sound Politics, WA
Oct 13 2007

Credit Where Credit is Due

Cong. Adam Smith deserves recognition for prudently voting against a
resolution in the House Foreign Affairs Committee labeling near
century-old killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide." The
vote sparked a serious diplomatic row with one of our strongest
allies in an unstable region. Not good.

Sticking a sharp stick in the eye of a valued friend hardly seems the
best choice if this Congress is really as serious as some of its
members claim about improving U.S. relations with the world. Cong.
Jim McDermott has already said he’ll vote against the measure on the
House floor given its modern day complications, even though he
originally cosponsored the resolution. It will be interesting to see
if fellow cosponsors Reps. Brian Baird, Rick Larsen, Dave Reichert,
and Cathy McMorris Rodgers do likewise. It’s one thing to sign onto a
seemingly innocuous resolution after a little lobbying. It’s another
to cast a vote adding fuel to an already brisk diplomatic fire.

On a related note, it will be interesting to see if Democratic
leadership even allows the measure to receive a vote of the full
House. The contrast of trying to make nice with Syria while enraging
one of our firmest allies in the same neck of the woods over a
nonessential matter would be more than just a little odd.