Saturday, August 31, 2013
A GOOD DECISION
I am very pleased that Obama has decided to seek Congressional approval for a strike against Syria, for two reasons. First, he may not get it. There is deep resistance across the political spectrum to such a move, which I think Bill Polk makes clear is really unjustified. But second, the move constitutes a de facto limitation on the power of the presidency in foreign policy, and in light of America's three-quarters of a century long imperial expansion as world hegemon, almost always in pursuit of the wrong ends, any such limitation must be applauded. It will be extremely interesting to see how this comes out.
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A third excellent reason is that it is not yet at all clear exactly what did happen and who was responsible. Despite all the "no doubt" statements of Kerry and Biden, there is still very good reason to have doubts at this time as William Polk points out.
And can someone explain why the Secretary of State who is supposed to be the chief voice for diplomacy has morphed into an attack dog? Whatever his private opinions are, Kerry has no business referring to a head of state as a "thug."
If Obama has not already got the votes counted, he should resign as incompetent. This would have been about the most bonehead political move ever. Had he done this before moving ships, etc. into position, maybe, but now he risks (if he hasn't counted votes) only a downside.
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