Obama's 'Blink' On Syria Is Politically Brilliant
For much of the past week, Congress has grown louder and louder with calls that President Barack Obama go through them for any authorization of military action in Syria.
Today, Obama gave them their wish.
Congress is now the "dog that caught the car," tweeted former senior White House adviser and chief Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.
Obama blinked, but he blinked with a dare. He is daring Congress to say no to limited action against a dictator for the brutal use of chemical weapons against his own people - an attack that the U.S. says killed 1,429 people, including 426 children.
"Here's my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price?" Obama said in a statement from the Rose Garden today.
"What's the purpose of the international system that we've built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?"
In taking this move, Obama answered the waning enthusiasm from the American public and his allies overseas for intervention. He answered the calls from more than 100 members of Congress who sent him a letter saying he needed their approval. And he answered the American public, 80% of whom want Congressional approval.
The move satisfied both sides of the aisle. It satisfied Republicans, who praised him for his decision while asserting the authority to declare war lies with Congress. GOP senators as ideologically different as the hawks John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and the libertarian Rand Paul (R-Ky.) applauded Obama's move to include Congress. "Smart politically to get Congress buy in," Keith Urbahn, the former chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, told Business Insider. It also satisfied liberals, who spent countless breaths charging that President George W. Bush had abused his executive authority while in office. Said Adam Green, the Adam Green, Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder: "It's great news that President Obama is seeking congressional approval for military action, an important precedent for all future presidents. After years of societal and international norms being thrown out the door - and things like torture, violations of civil liberties, and war becoming normalized - today's announcement is an important down payment on proper norms and regular order being restored."