Overwhelmingly, Americans reject Barack Obama\u2019s call to launch a military strike against Syria.\u00a0 Many of his opponents think that the President is in a tough spot, regardless of what happens: If he doesn\u2019t attack Syria, then, since the latter has crossed his now infamous \u201cred line,\u201d Obama\u2014and, quite possibly, America itself\u2014promises to appear \u201cweak\u201d to our enemies and the world. If, on the other hand, he does <\/i>attack Syria against <\/i>the objections of Congress, American voters, and the rest of the world, then Obama will appear stupendously arrogant.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s damned if he does, damned if he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Not so fast.<\/p>\n
Obama is a radical leftist, a \u201ccommunity organizer\u201d\u2014a community rabble rouser\u2014who knows exactly how to create and exploit crises for his own political aggrandizement.\u00a0 We should consider the possibility that the consensus among the punditry class is on the verge of being subverted: Obama might be setting himself up to benefit <\/i>from the spot he\u2019s in\u2014regardless of what happens.<\/i><\/p>\n
First, in the almost certain event that Congress refuses to authorize the use of force against Syria, Obama will be provided with an opportunity to avoid going to war.\u00a0 And what an opportunity this will be.<\/p>\n
If more atrocities occur in Syria, as they most assuredly will, he will be able to blame the bloodshed on his rivals in Congress.\u00a0 With the help of his media accomplices, Obama can attempt to convince voters of the callous opportunism of his Republican foes, a rank partisanship\u2014maybe even \u201cracist\u201d partisanship?\u2014that would sacrifice numerous Syrians if this was the price that had to be paid to obstruct Obama\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the President can elevate his own image by showing the world that, while he personally wanted to strike Syria, he nevertheless deferred to the will of Congress and to that of the American people. In glaring contrast to his opponents, as well as to the charge(s) that they\u2019ve been leveling against him for the last five years, Obama can use this as his chance to prove that not only isn\u2019t he the radical that they say he is; he isn\u2019t even much of a \u201cpartisan\u201d at all.<\/p>\n
Second, by deferring to Congress\u2019s will, Obama can, at least implicitly, draw out the contrasts between himself and his predecessor.\u00a0 The country remains war-weary because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in which George W. Bush and his Republicans got us mired.\u00a0 Obama, on the other hand, ended America\u2019s engagements in both Middle Eastern lands and kept it out of any others.<\/p>\n
This, at any rate, is how history might remember him.<\/p>\n
Third, if <\/i>the wildly unpopular occurs and Congress does <\/i>authorize a military intervention in Syria, then Obama can again showcase his commitment to bipartisanship and statesmanship. He will also be able to save his face vis-\u00e0-vis Assad and the planet.<\/p>\n
However, if this scenario plays out, you can rest assured that the American military will be in and out of Syria in no time.\u00a0 Again, this will be so that Americans still disenchanted with Bush II and the GOP for \u201ctheir\u201d wars will be able to breathe a sigh of relief that Obama kept his word: Syria was no Iraq.<\/p>\n
Fourth, if Congress complies with Obama and we attack Syria, then, for the time being, attention is shifted from the other, more damning scandals that plague his administration.<\/p>\n
Finally, if Congress votes \u201cno\u201d to an assault against Syria, Obama and, more importantly, America, may very well look \u201cweak,\u201d as several critics have said.\u00a0 Yet, if some of these same critics ever took their earlier criticisms of this President seriously, then even this <\/i>might serve Obama\u2019s interests well.<\/p>\n
Recall that Obama recently said that it isn\u2019t he <\/i>who drew \u201cthe red line,\u201d but America<\/i> that did so.\u00a0 This may not have necessarily been a ploy meant to either convince the public to support his efforts in Syria or save Obama\u2019s face.\u00a0 For years, more than a few conservative-minded detractors of the President have been vocal regarding their belief that Obama\u2019s desire to \u201cfundamentally transform\u201d the country is nothing more or less than a desire to destroy <\/i>and replace <\/i>it in favor of an America made in the image of his own leftist ideology.<\/p>\n
Is it such a stretch to think that Obama wants to make his threat concerning \u201cthe red line\u201d America\u2019s threat because he knows that by failing to enforce it, America will <\/i>appear weaker <\/i>to the rest of the world?\u00a0 Being the man of the hard left that he is, Obama regards America as the purveyor of all manner of evil in the world: \u201cracism,\u201d \u201cimperialism,\u201d etc.\u00a0 But if America\u2019s global stature is diminished, so too will its capacity to inflict mischief be diminished.\u00a0 And if reneging on a threat to intervene in Syria is a crucial step toward realizing this goal, then this is what must be done.<\/p>\n
With Obama, one must always watch the other hand. For some reason, as this issue with Syria is but the latest episode to reveal, his opponents continually forget this. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overwhelmingly, Americans reject Barack Obama\u2019s call to launch a military strike against Syria.\u00a0 Many of his opponents think that the President is in a tough spot, regardless of what happens: If he doesn\u2019t attack Syria, then, since the latter has crossed his now infamous \u201cred line,\u201d Obama\u2014and, quite possibly, America itself\u2014promises to appear \u201cweak\u201d to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n