President Obama’s major speech Tuesday evening was intended to rally public support for an ‘unbelievably small’ military attack on Syria, and then have this newly-found public support pressure Congress to approve his, as yet, not clearly defined military action. Of course, he now also wants Congress to postpone any vote on this military response to President Assad’s use of chemical weapons.
Obama’s rationale for all this is to allow time for the United States to investigate further the recently-suggested Russian proposal for removing and destroying Syria’s stockpile of such chemical weapons.
Listening to all this, I couldn’t help but think of Peggy Noonan’s comments in today’s Wall Street Journal, where she concludes “… a White House address in which a president argues for an endeavor he is abandoning. It will be a president appealing for public support for an action he intends not to take. We’ve never had a presidential speech like that!” Aaron Goldstein has similar thoughts in his comments...
