New York Democrat Charles Schumer, the Democrat who is in line to replace Harry Reid as U.S. Senate Minority Leader, announced recently that he would vote against the Iran nuclear deal. He also said that he would be encouraging other congressional Democrats to do so as well.

In the meantime President Obama has stated repeatedly that the Republicans strong opposition to the Iran deal is based on politics and not on merit. Knowing what I know about how the Republicans have opposed the president on almost everything that he has supported, including many proposals that they also supported until he put his support behind them, I agree with President Obama’s assessment. Republican leaders have long made it clear as to what their main goal is concerning President Obama.

Not only did they want to make him a one-term president but it appears that since that did not work, they are still determined to ruin – if not completely destroy his legacy. Having said that, I want to return to my thoughts about Senator Schumer and his decision to vote against the Iran nuclear deal.

I have consistently stated that we need to have political leaders in place who will not constantly pander to voters but who will use all of the information available to them to make decisions that are in our best interest and in the overall best interest of America. As informed American voters we know that many times they are privy to information, which we are not privy to. When they make decisions that are more controversial than usual that some of us disagree with we expect them to explain why they decided as they did.

Sometimes their explanations will assuage our anger and sometimes they will not. We will use that information, as we should, come the next election cycle to decide whether or not we should still place our confidence in them to represent us in elected office. Because we live in a democracy, the majority of the electorate – not having been in any way obstructed or prevented from voting, should determine whether that person will be returned to office or if they will be replaced by someone else.

Senator Schumer stated that he reviewed this deal thoroughly before he arrived at his decision to vote against it. I am not aware of any meaningful blemishes on his record that indicate that he has not served with integrity and honor so there is no reason to believe that that is not the case now and that there is some hidden motive involved.

Where I have a problem with Senator Schumer is that he not only announced that he would vote against the Iran nuclear deal but he would encourage other congressional Democrats to vote against it as well. This might be okay if he were not all but the heir apparent to be the Senate Minority Leader when Senator Harry Reid retires.

I would not agree with what he did even if this was not the case. But this is one of those times like I mentioned previously in this article where he may need to explain to his constituents why he made the decision that he made. They will then be able to decide if they are satisfied with his rational. He will likely also need to explain his decision to the rest of America if he wants to help assure, to the greatest extent possible, that he will replace Senator Reid when he retires.

He needs to do this because his fellow senators will be the ones to decide if he will indeed replace Senator Reid as Minority Leader and many of their constituents have signed a petition that questions whether Senator Schumer is ‘fit’ to hold that position. No matter how these senators personally feel about Senator Schumer, they are still politicians and they will likely do what politicians do.

I applaud Senator Schumer for his willingness to stand up and do what he believes to be right. Now, however, he must accept the consequences of his decision and that includes what ultimately could prove to be a tougher road that leads to him becoming the Senate Minority Leader. I just happen to be among those who disagree with him on the Iran deal. And I hope that if he does become Minority Leader he won’t prove to be an easy target for shrewd Republican leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell.

Ah, I’m probably wasting my time thinking about stuff like that. It is more likely that should Senator Schumer become Minority Leader, he can ‘get a drink with Senator McConnell’ and they will be able to work all things – current and future, out equitably. However, in light of the current relationship that Senator Schumer has with the White House I am not positive that he will be the next Senate Minority Leader. Instead, it seems that with all of the praise that he is receiving from congressional Republicans right now, he might stand a better chance of becoming the next Republican Senate Majority Leader.

Eulus Dennis