Obama To Have Congress Vote on Syria Action
This is tremendously positive news, just reported in the New York Times) and I'm sure everywhere else:
"WASHINGTON — President Obama stunned the world and paused his march to war on Saturday by asking Congress to give him authorization before he launches a limited military strike against the Syrian government in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack.
In an afternoon appearance in the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama said he had decided that the United States should use force but would wait for a vote from lawmakers..."
I say this not because I believe much of the blather being slung around by Republicans about the Constitution, which they care nothing for when it stands in their way, but because this forces the reflexively anti-Obama Republicans into a corner of their own making: Do they vote against the will of their insane core voters and give Obama the permission to use military force, or do they deny him this power, thus effectively bringing to a final end the sixty year long bogus narrative that Democrats are weak on defense and only Republicans can be trusted to use our military properly.
Thus, Obama, instead of letting Republicans paint him into an untenable corner, succeeds in painting the Republicans into the same corner. What's more, this is probably going to force them all back to Washington, bringing to an end their now traditional five week end-of-summer anti-Democratic smearfest. This is going to be a really interesting couple of weeks as Republicans try to reconcile their obligatory militarism with the demands of their base that they oppose Obama on everything. It is one of the few smart moves that Obama has ever made when confronted with Republican intransigence and political exploitation. Good for him; and now, on with the party.
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