I realize that. They aren't accountable to the voters directly, which is why I'd expect them to move forward with this. I also understand that if Obama loses, they are out of work, so if we don't sign it, it probably comes from him. It just seems like a big about face for them to push this so hard and then drop out at the last minute.
Interesting tidbit from Bloomberg news service: one of the late additions to the treaty, at China's insistence, was to explicitly exclude any transfers classified as 'aid' or 'gifts' from treaty coverage.
So, you could 'help' Sudan with a couple hundred thousand AK's and it isn't covered, but standard export to legal US purchasers would have to comply. Good treaty.