After a solid week of defeats on the Syrian War, President Obama is doing some dramatic revisionism in an attempt to portray the situation, as it presently exists, as his carefully orchestrated victory as opposed to the rebuke that it was.
Trying to figure out where the president stands on the chemical weapons disarmament deal is virtually impossible at this point, since every new speech changes it markedly, but the president is clear in his “calls” for the Congressional delay of the war vote.
Calls ends up in irony quotes here because he only started advocating the delay a day after the Senate had already announced that it was taking the vote off the schedule indefinitely, and nearly a week after it became apparent that he was going to lose the House vote.
Opposition to the Syrian War has been so broad and so decisive that Congress dares not agree to the war, and the Senate has simply shelved the bill instead of forcing its hawkish leadership to face an embarrassing defeat. The House hasn’t delayed officially yet but is clearly headed for the same defeat, only even more dramatic.
The administration continues to push the idea of Congress authorizing war and it’s clear that’s their ideal. Since it’s not going to happen, they’re now tasked with trying to portray not getting the vote at all as their idea.
It's incredible the lengths the mainstream press and millions of Obama worshipers will
go to spin this as a "victory" for this wonderful man, so wise, so compassionate. For me,
he has proved that it is impossible to trust him or believe anything he or his spinners say, without iron proof. He is only a sideshow anyway, and those really driving this whole sad
fiasco, Israel and the Israel Lobby, may just decide that he needs to exit the stage.
Did anybody mention the military is not obliged to follow an unConstitutional order?
Looks like the adults in the room got the upper hand, namely the US people, Russia and China.
A president dose not lose a war, is a prestigious matter that can not be described nor can be understood by ordinary people, ordinary people only vote for president to have a war under his name. They voted for Bush, he gave them Iraq war, they voted for Bill Clinton, he gave them the Balkan war and etc.
I think congress should vote no on authorizing the war and than vote on impeaching Obama if he starts the war anyway . Presidents have a history of starting wars and claim they have the right to bomb anyone . I think congress should vote on wether we bomb Syria or not before Obama can even act . Senate should vote too I want to see if my represenitives want to ever be reelected again SO Vote .
Saw Rand Paul last night and to some extent he's not ready for prime time. On CNN he was blaming Assad for all 100,000 deaths in Syria. Thats dumb. But his official speech put the Syrian opposition/rebels in context in the first sentence: They are brutal Christian killers.
Best way to stop this war is to go hard at how awful and how savage the rebels are. They are responsible for the 100,000 deaths. They started it so its on their heads.
It would be very good if this episode whacks the old Guard of the Republican Party real good. Obama himself split the country last night as GOP militarists and Democratic humanitarians. Its the militarists who are in the committee chairs/ranking members in Congress and they suppress questons about Libya and the current chaos there and about Bosnia and Clinton's Kosovo war.
Why does it matter if the delay is a "defeat"? Putting it that way will make future presidents even less willing to consider all the options and do the right thing. How about we praise the administration from backing off an initial position to consider more options, for doing right by the constitution in seeking congressional authorization, and for going public with his arguments. Past admins would have lobbed bombs first and asked questions later. I am pleased with how this is turning out, and I hope this process serves a model for future situations, with the exception of the president unilaterally "drawing red lines in sand." That was Obama's biggest mistake. And I'm libertarian and voted for Ron Paul last time, but I try to be objective and praise Obama for how he got himself out of (or is getting himself out of) the "bombs only" position. Let's hope things continue to progress this way and the USA stays out of Syria.
In the photo above, Obama eats a Bullshit Wrap, a staple of the Neocon/Neoliberal diet.
Obama should (thank) Putin for allowing him a way out of this mess. After the Russian proposal was revealed, CNN interviewed AIPAC flunkies Paul Wolfowitz, Ari Fleischer, and Joey Lieberman. These men were flabbergasted that a peaceful solution was being considered.
Obama has been a lame duck since day one. He is a man without conviction, and one who gladly allows injustice, and state economic terror against those who voted him in. The only thing that can save America is a complete overhaul of the entire democratic system. This new system would not include democrats, or republicans since they are both corrupt and immoral to their respective cores.
Any war with Syria is dangerous, as repeatedly pointed out by Russian President Putin. Syria borders Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Obviously, once this starts, it could engulf the entire Levant. Should this happen, oil prices will rise and if things go really wrong (remember when US bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia?) this could well lead to war with Russia (has naval base in Tartus), China and Iran.