President Obama can’t win with lawmakers, no matter how hard he tries. He punted the decision on staging military action against Syria back to Congress, but some Republicans aren’t happy with that decision such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and presidential wannabe Rep. Peter King (R-NY). What President Obama did was put Congress in a nice little wooden box.

In a two-hour meeting of passionate, sharp debate in the Oval Office, he told them that after a frantic week in which he seemed to be rushing toward a military attack on Syria, he wanted to pull back and seek Congressional approval first.

He had several reasons, he told them, including a sense of isolation after the terrible setback in the British Parliament. But the most compelling one may have been that acting alone would undercut him if in the next three years he needed Congressional authority for his next military confrontation in the Middle East, perhaps with Iran.

If he made the decision to strike Syria without Congress now, he said, would he get Congress when he really needed it? “He can’t make these decisions divorced from the American public and from Congress,” said a senior aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations. “Who knows what we’re going to face in the next three and a half years in the Middle East?” Source:  NY Times

Sen. John McCain said the Free Syrian Army was hurt by White House indecision:  “I can tell you their morale has been devastated.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss says President Obama has shown “weakness” for not launching strikes against Syria, even though he said his constituents are war weary.  The president can’t win with these lawmakers. Sen. Tim Kaine said it best, “Congress often wants to evade responsibility, evade votes, rather than accept the consequences.” Well, this time they will have to step up to the plate and actually debate this issue rather than continue their media tours.

Another unilateral executive decision to engage in war just isn’t the best move right now. It’s clear that we don’t have any clear goals or an exit strategy on a military offensive in Syria. Some critics say President Obama has retreated from his redline and ‘murderer’ and ‘thug’ Bashar al-Assad has won. I don’t think so. It’s clear, the White House bungled this to some degree, but calling it a total capitulation and an abdication is just ridiculous.

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.