WhatFinger


Barry's Red Line, Deferred to Congress and to the wishes of the American people. What a guy!

Mr Obama goes to Congress



After threatening to take shots at Syria, the president has now decided it would be proper to seek Congressional approval for lobbing a cruise missile across Syria’s bow or for doing whatever else short term military action he has planned.
Many commentators describe Obama as “leading from behind” which gives him way too much credit by suggesting he is a leader. He’s not a leader but rather he is a consummate politician. Despite being ineligible to run again, he has never stopped campaigning. A year ago, obviously without his trusted teleprompter, the president said there was a “red line” that could not be crossed in Syria. If the Assad regime even so much as moved chemical weapons or used them, the United States would take action. Well, it seems almost certain that chemical weapons were not only in Syria but were used by the government. Obama was then caught with his pants down when his red line comment came back to haunt him. He had to do something or else look like an idiot, not just to those who know he’s an idiot but to the ever dwindling members of the Hope and Change crowd.

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Now, there is the matter of timing. After threatening to launch a strike he had to determine when to strike. This weekend would not be good because it would necessitate cutting down his golf time. And Monday, he leaves the country and heads to Russia. He can’t have cruise missiles going off in Syria while meeting with Putin and other leaders who are part of the coalition of the unwilliing. If he leaves taking action too late, he will look more ridiculous than he did after Assad crossed his red line and he did nothing. So the campaigner-in-chief came up with a perfect plan. By agreeing to go to Congress he changed a lose-lose situation into a win-win. Obama is going to let Congress decide whether or not Syria should be attacked to punish the Assad regime for using chemical weapons, killing over a thousand people including innocent children, and more importantly, for crossing Barry’s red line. In seeking Congressional approval, Obama is showing his rugged determination to defeat America’s greatest enemy. No, it’s not Syria or Iran or North Korea. It’s not even Israel. It is those evil Republicans. There is no constitutional nor legal requirement to have Congress approve what Obama is proposing to do. He has the constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to launch an attack. And although the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, a limited attack on Syria, lasting two or three days at most, can hardly be classified as a “war” even though the attacks could be considered as an act of war. And the War Powers Act, passed in 1973 over Nixon’s veto, only obligates the president to inform Congress of the deployment of troops within 48 hours of commencing action. The legislation is silent on how Congress shall be informed. It could be in person, in writing, or by telling Jay Leno on national television. The main thrust of the War Powers Act is that the president can take unilateral action but troops that are deployed must be withdrawn after 60 days unless the approval of Congress is obtained. This Act does not contemplate a short attack as punishment for crossing a made-up red line. Obama is letting the American people, through their elected representatives, determine whether a strike should be launched against Syria. That makes a good sound bite but Obama has never before been concerned getting the approval of the American people or going to Congress to decide such things as exemptions to Obamacare or granting amnesty to certain illegals. Seeking Congressional approval is being done for one reason—to benefit Obama. If Congress approves an attack on Syria, it will show Obama was right all along. He was right to demand Assad not cross his red line and was right to decide to punish Syria by launching a limited attack. In light of the fact many Democrats are opposed to taking military action, the most likely result is Congress will say no. This will be the most beneficial outcome for the president. He did what he could but Congress has spoken. He deferred to Congress and to the wishes of the American people. What a guy! More importantly, Obama will blame his real enemy; the Republicans. It’s not enough they want to kill American children by taking away their school lunches and their food stamps but now they are happy Syrian kids are dying from chemical weapons. No more Syrian children would die if it were not for those Republicans. You have to give Obama credit. He got out of the corner he painted himself into and will have another reason to heap blame on Republicans again. Chris Matthews’ leg may even start to tingle again.

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Arthur Weinreb -- Bio and Archives

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. Arthur’s latest book, Ford Nation: Why hundreds of thousands of Torontonians supported their conservative crack-smoking mayor is available at Amazon. Racism and the Death of Trayvon Martin is also available at Smashwords. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com,  Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.

Older articles (2007) by Arthur Weinreb


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