Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis was among 17 U.S. House members who voted against the bipartisan bill approved overwhelmingly last week to ban Russian oil sales in the United States, and one of just two Democrats. She joined Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota in criticizing President Joe Biden's sanctions against Russia. The progressive illogic behind their thinking is dangerous for its potential to make thinking people's heads explode.

The tendency of voters when evaluating candidates for Congress is to ask what the person can do to uplift the local community and bring federal dollars to work at home. Major world issues tend not to factor into congressional campaigns, and it's in this arena that Bush's weaknesses have proven most embarrassingly apparent.

Comments last week by Bush and Omar suggested they are oblivious to television images of children and pregnant Ukrainian women blasted away in attacks as Russian military forces bombard hospitals and apartment buildings, or as Ukrainians flee through recognized refugee corridors.

Bush and Omar seem more concerned with whether sanctions might inconvenience the Russian people. Banning Russian oil is "not only going to have a devastating impact on the people of Russia, but on Europe as well," Omar told The Hill TV.

Bush says she is fine with targeting oligarchs allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin but, "We have to do those things that are humane," she told The Washington Post. "How can we ensure that the people of Ukraine, the people of Russia, those family members, those children, those disabled community members, everyone in those communities, that they won't be the ones who are harmed and left out in this situation?"

She stated Thursday that banning Russian oil "categorically makes our communities less safe" and "does nothing to jumpstart our transition to renewable energy," The Hill reported. She suggested that increasing domestic oil production or importing more from Saudi Arabia would be "even more dangerous" because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

Even more dangerous than blowing up children and pregnant women?

International sanctions are designed in part to make life difficult for average Russians so they will demand that Putin halt his invasion. They are necessary to make Putin rethink this invasion, and they're the only option available short of engaging in direct war with Russia.

On Thursday, Bush said she voted against banning Russian oil because "it fails to address the underlying problem of imposing sanctions that are not accompanied with a clear diplomatic process for de-escalation, incentives for a ceasefire, and a condition of withdrawal of Russian military forces in Ukraine."

As people who inform themselves by reading this and other newspapers already know, the Biden administration has tried intensively since December to engage in a clear diplomatic process to avert this war. It's the Russians standing in the way of peace, which is why sanctions are necessary. Why is Bush defending the enemy?

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Photo credit: 12019 at Pixabay