Blurred Red Lines
September 4 | Posted by mrossol | Liberal Press, Obama, SyriaObama is a blatant liar. And I’ll say for the um-teenth time – don’t expect the “honorable liberal press” to call him to task about it.
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President Obama isn’t easy to follow up San Juan Hill, or for that matter even Capitol Hill. Rather than walk point on national security, he prefers to blend in with the enlisted men and women. Consider his astonishing statement on Wednesday at a press conference in Stockholm about his comments last year drawing a “red line” on the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad in Syria.
“First of all, I didn’t set a red line,” [WHAT???!?!?!] the President said. “The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.
“Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. [Are you kidding me? This isn’t a lie?] Congress set a red line when it indicated that—in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act—that some of the horrendous things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for.”
Then the President further blurred his own red lines by explaining whose credibility is at risk in the Syria vote in Congress: “Point number two, my credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line. And America and Congress’s credibility is on the line [… unbelievable…] because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important.”
If a President wants to lose a vote in Congress, this is what he would say. Minimize his personal leadership responsibility, and tell the Members of Congress that they are responsible for whatever happens if they fail to pass his resolution, as well as for the results of any military action that Mr. Obama would conduct.
As if on cue, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday passed a Syria use-of-force resolution but only by a disconcerting 10-7 vote. Mr. Obama lost two Democrats and five Republicans, including Senators who are far from isolationists such as John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Mr. Obama still hasn’t figured out after five years in office that America is the only enforcer of world order, and thus that there is no substitute for the President of the United States. Mr. Obama can’t default to “the international community,” whatever that is, much less to Congress. He has to lead. If he loses on Syria, it will be because he hasn’t.
Review & Outlook: Blurred Red Lines – WSJ.com.
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