We can judge the speech in several ways: its mere existence offends the President and his supporters. The White House apparently "sat" on Speaker Boehner's request to have Mr. Netanyahu speak before Congress. Since the White House did not state they did not want Mr. Netanyahu to speak, the Speaker may have assumed that it was OK, so he formalized the invitation. Of course, Mr. Netanyahu had addressed Congress before, and he is the head of government of the one functioning democracy in the Middle East and our firmest friend in the region, so what reason should Mr. Boehner have for not asking the Prime Minister to speak? It is not as if he represented an opposition group, or an enemy, or a government the US did not recognize - he is a friend. Mr. Netanyahu does not like the potential for the deal that President Obama is working with Iran. The Republicans in Congress do not like the fact that the President is refusing to grant them the knowledge of what is being negotiated. And the President does not like the fact that the foreign leader whose nation’s fate is in greatest peril from a “bad deal” publicly disagrees with the basis through which the deal is being negotiated.
The President, who made his reputation as somewhat of an iconoclast who disdained tradition and was critical of those who stood on ceremony, suddenly developed a sharp sense of indignation over the whole episode, and his people made it well-known that Mr. Netanyahu's presence would be a violation of protocol. President Obama's feathers may have been ruffled, but perhaps that was less over the Prime Minister's presence than over what he was likely to say: that Iran had broken its promises since 1979 and cannot be trusted to keep its word, that the west has faltered many times since then, giving Iran the benefit of the doubt even when its trustworthiness leaves a lot to be desired. The free world can't afford to lose this argument, because any solution that does not stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program could be fatal to US interests, to say nothing of fatal to Israel.
Here is some more from Mr. Netanyahu’s address: "this deal has two major concessions: one leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program, and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That’s why this deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, it paves Iran’s path to the bomb. According to the deal, not a single nuclear facility would be demolished. Thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium would be left spinning. Thousands more would be temporarily disconnected but not destroyed. Because Iran’s nuclear program would be left largely intact, Iran’s breakout time would be very short — about a year by America’s assessment, even shorter by Israel. The ideology of Iran’s revolutionary regime is deeply rooted in militant Islam, and that’s why this regime will always be an enemy of America."
Prime Minister Netanyahu had gracious words for President Obama: "We appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel, I will always be grateful to President Obama for that support.” He brought the house down when he said, "No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you stand with Israel." He also made it clear that his nation's survival would be at clear risk if Iran's nuclear program is not brought under control, and so far, the efforts to bring it under control have come up far short. President Obama disagrees.
Judging by the tone of the complaints, the White House is far more exercised, outraged, angered and offended by words from a representative of America's ally than about Iran; just as the President gets far hotter under his collar about Republicans than about anything else.
The President dismissed the speech because it offered "nothing new," as if an opinion is not plausible unless it is "new." The Bible tells us "there is no new thing new under the sun," but here is the essence of what Mr. Netanyahu said: "Before lifting those restrictions, the world should demand that Iran do three things. First, stop its aggression against its neighbors in the Middle East. Second, stop supporting terrorism around the world. And third, stop threatening to annihilate my country, Israel" Seems to us that if Iran refuses to do those three things, any deal they agree to is worthless. President Obama is not willing to accept those conditions, but "new" or not, those conditions are in America’s interests.