Republicans on Capitol Hill have found a rallying point that temporarily gives them a respite from their internal divisions as a political party.

The members of the Grand Old Party have zeroed in on challenging the foreign policy of President Barack, particularly in the way he handles the nuclear arms negotiations with Iran, and the crisis in Eastern Ukraine perpertuated by Russian-backed separatists.

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The stinging remarks made by Republican lawmakers on these foreign affairs issues have earned them the image of acting as a 'rougue State Department' operating from Capitol Hill.

But the Republicans do not seem to mind.

As they pour criticisms at the Oval Office, the Republicans have been able to spare themselves from absorbing the humiliation of their unsuccessful effort to stop the President's immigration programs, and the failure of the House leadership to pass legislations that address border security and abortion.

The Republicans' current spat with the Obama administration has also shifted their focus away from unpopular domestic issues.

Before the Republicans took up debates on foreign policies, their speeches were largely confined to domestic issues such as health care, federal spending, wage hikes and job generation.

The public's interest on these topics seems to have waned, so the Republicans are now taking up foreign policy to build new lines of attack against their Democratic rivals.

Senior Republican leader and Wyoming senator John Barrasso says, "uniformly, we believe that this administration has been very weak on foreign affairs. We are at a point where our friends no longer trust us, our enemies don't fear us, and it's not just what'shappening with Iran or Iraq. You see it with Russia."

The Republicans' switch in priority from domestic affairs to foreign policy indicates a return to their more hawkish national security roots.

The Republicans' new strategy of hitting the Oval office for its foreign policy decisions may have added interest in the Republican cause.

But well respected Republican foreign policy veterans say, this may not be the right direction for their partymates.

Senior Republicans warn that the solons are "treading into a dangerous territory and setting precedents they may come to regret" later on.

One example of such actions is the Republicans' invitation for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress, without first informing the White House.

Senior Republican observers also note, House leaders even took it upon themselves to tell Iran that any deal that it will forge with Obama may not anymore be effective, once he steps down from the White House.

"I don't think that the Ayatollah is going to be particularly convinced by the point raised in a letter from members of the Senate, even if it is signed by a number of my distinguished and high-ranking colleagues," says Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Collins is asking her fellow Republicans not to act like villains in the President's foreign policy campaigns.

She sums up her plea by saying that perhaps, the proper position that her colleagues in the House should take is to focus on "keeping the pressure on the President to make a good deal, and not a bad agreement."

TagsU.S. Congress, Obama, Republicans, Foreign Policy