Dems following Obama over the cliff

In business terms, it's throwing good money after bad. In political terms, it's Democrats following Barack Obama over the cliff.

Reports say key congressional leaders, furious over the interim nuke pact with Iran, are threatening to buck Obama and add more sanctions. Those threats, I believe, will never come to anything.

Democrats are afraid to say no to Obama. They've never done it and are not likely to start now.

So if you like ObamaCare, you'll love the Iranian nuke deal.

The same people who gave you the health-care disaster on a party-line vote also will make it easier for Iran to get a nuke. Some will kick and scream, but they'll fall in line like good party soldiers. They did it before and they'll do it again.

Joe Biden called ObamaCare a "big f–king deal" at the signing ceremony. Nancy Pelosi said, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it." She also said, "It's going to be very, very exciting."

Well, there is no arguing with those predictions. ObamaCare is a very big deal, and it's fair to say Americans are very, very excited as they discover what's in it.

Unfortunately, the big deal is a bad one and the excitement comes from an epidemic of disgust and fear sweeping the nation.

So it will be with Iran. The promise of greater security and peace in our time will be proven false. You don't have to be a historian to know that weakness begets aggression. Always.

The question remains a simple one. Is Iran ready to give up its ­30-year quest for nukes? If the ­answer isn't yes, it's no.

One fact tells the whole story: The deal anticipates permanently recognizing Iran's right to enrich uranium. That makes it weaker than Security Council resolutions that even China and Russia supported.

Yet now comes the sell, with the president, just as he did with ObamaCare, in full pitchman mode. Before the ink was dry, he was in California before adoring crowds assembled to nod and smile and clap on cue as he trotted out a straw man to demonize critics.

"Tough talk and bluster may be the easy thing to do politically, but it's not the right thing for our country," he told the nodding heads.

There he goes again. If you don't agree with him, you're playing politics. Only he knows "the right thing for our country."

His latest offer is one America can and should refuse. Trusting Iran to deliver on its promises is nearly as risky as trusting Obama to deliver on his.

The nation has been down this path before. When a failing president digs in and refuses to listen, it is the duty of the leaders of his party to confront him and speak the truth. Republican elders did that to Richard Nixon during ­Watergate, leading to his resignation, and Dems did it to Bill Clinton to get him to stop lying about Monica Lewinsky.

In 2006, as Iraq was convulsed by a Shia-Sunni civil war, Virginia Sen. John Warner and other Republicans urged President Bush to start bringing the troops home.

Bush didn't agree, but the pressure helped persuade him to change course. Immediately after the Democratic sweep in the midterm elections, Bush replaced Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary and forged the "surge" plan that dramatically reduced the violence in Iraq.

No two situations are alike, of course, but the principle is the same. Partisanship cannot demand blind loyalty. Every elected official has a first duty to the country, and leaders of a wayward president's party bear a special responsibility to set him straight.

That burden now falls on the Democrats who know the Iran deal is a bad one. My hope is that they will rise to the occasion. My fear is that the same people who gave us ObamaCare will give us a nuclear-armed Iran.

It's time for some tough Gov

Gov. Cuomo is on a roll. Two new polls show him starting his re-election year with huge leads over potential opponents. It's time he put that political capital to work for New York.

Cuomo's standing among voters should free him from the shackles of caution. Most important, his commitment to clean up Albany corruption deserves a turbo boost in light of public confidence in his leadership.

Both the Quinnipiac and Wall Street Journal/NBC polls show him holding a commanding 2-1 lead against possible opponents.

That gives him the freedom to campaign on his efforts to force legislators to disclose outside income. He promised to do that, but there also were signs he was ready to compromise.

His Moreland Act panel is locked in a showdown with leaders of both parties who claim the disclosure demands intrude on their independence. That's pathetic, but lawmakers are desperate to shield the links between their outside incomes and their official actions. Gotta keep taxpayers in the dark, ya know.

The public is disgusted with corruption, and the governor should harness that anger to force the legislators to go straight or go home.

His strength also gives Cuomo a chance to deliver on his promise to lower New York's tax burden. Despite earlier reforms, such as the property-tax cap, the state still ranks at or near the bottom in every survey of businesses and families.

Indeed, the culture of corruption is closely tied to the state's out-of-whack spending and taxing. If he can summon the right stuff, Cuomo has a once-in-a-generation chance to slay the dragons of the Vampire State.

Bloomberg: Gridlock & good night

What a difference a state makes. The New Jersey Legislature is still furious at last September's unexplained traffic congestion on the approach to the George Washington Bridge. Just this week, officials held a hearing and scoffed at the explanations of Port Authority officials.

In Gotham, anybody who creates congestion gets a medal from City Hall. To spend an afternoon crawling through the maze of Manhattan is to understand what it's like to be a second-class citizen punished because government zealots think everybody should ride a bike.

Despite his other accomplishments, Mayor Bloomberg has made getting around the city infinitely worse. That's his legacy, too.

Kelly's heroes deserve better

In the last year, the number of murders of New Yorkers ages 13 to 21 has been cut in half, the Police Department says. Top cop Ray Kelly credits Operation Crew Cut, a program that targeted turf wars between loose gangs of young people. This year, 43 people in that age group have been murdered, down from 87 last year.

Overall, shootings and homicides are down 21 percent from 2012's record lows. All of which proves again that Kelly deserves a medal, not the smears he is getting from the next mayor.

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