Whether it is as the Washington Post puts it:
Fast-moving events have altered the script for President Obama’s nationally televised speech about Syria. Obama is now in a position of having to argue for both war and diplomacy in the same address.
Tuesday night’s speech now becomes one more event in a haphazard and unpredictable process that has shifted repeatedly over the past two weeks. No one appears in control, as the past two days have underscored.
Or as the New York Times paints it:
In the past 24 hours, the nature of the domestic and international debate about a military intervention in Syria has changed significantly.
The president is facing one of the most challenging moments of his presidency.
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When he first announced the speech, he was expected to use the appearance to outline his case for a United States-led military strike against Syria. He hoped to explain why it was necessary to retaliate for a chemical weapons attack that, according to United States intelligence, killed more than 1,400 people in Syria, but also to reassure Americans that the result would not be another Iraq war. Since then, much has changed. White House speechwriters have been revising their drafts as a plan put forward by Russia for Syria to relinquish control of its chemical weapons has gained international support. Mr. Obama is now expected to say that the threat of military action has led to the diplomatic opening, and to urge Congress to keep the pressure on Syria even as his administration examines whether the Russian proposal is serious or a way to obstruct military action.
Or as the White House announces it:
[The President] will discuss our response to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons that killed more than 1,400 civilians — including more than 400 children.
Whichever way, the President’s speech tonight will probably be one of the most important and interesting speeches of his presidency — and certainly one of the most edited, revised and re-revised speeches in recent history.
Watch it live here tonight at 9:00 PM ET, as President Obama addresses the nation from the East Room of the White House.
