Barack Obomber

As I made clear a couple of days ago, I object strongly to any U.S. involvement in Syria.  Apparently, on this score, I disagree with Barack Obama. (and agree with Sarah Palin.  I hate agreeing with Sarah Palin about anything, but there it is.)

Kids in Damascus

Obama knows perfectly  well that launching a few cruise missiles, or dropping a few bombs on Damascus, will not be enough to drive Bashar al-Assad from power.  It might even strengthen his position.  Therefore, it’s just posturing, and there will undoubtedly be civilian deaths from that posturing, which means it’s a totally immoral position.

If it were, as Obama says, in order to punish al-Assad for using chemical weapons, to discourage anybody from using them in the future, then why isn’t he attempting to prosecute George W. Bush, who allowed the use of white phosphorus during the battle of Fallujah?  That was small potatoes compared to his other crimes, but it was chemical weapons.

So, it’s not about the chemical weapons.  It’s all about politics and, therefore, inexcusable.

On the other hand, Obama pulled off a major political master stroke with his speech today.  By saying he wanted a congressional vote, he put congress into an impossible situation.

First of all, they are not going to rush back from vacation because that would mean rushing back from vacation, and one thing they care more about than the lives of Syrian children is their vacation.  So, for the rest of their vacation, any speeches they give on Syria will earn them nothing but contempt because they are out giving speeches instead of debating the issue in session.

Secondly since he has said he favors bombing Syria, the Republicans are almost forced to line up against it.  If only a few true Democrats oppose the bombing, there might be no congressional approval.  If Obama is really cool (much cooler than I give him credit for), he will turn around and say “O.K. – you don’t want to bomb, we won’t bomb.”

Congress, however, will probably debate briefly and then approve war because, even though they hate Obama, they love war and work, mostly, for the military-industrial complex.  Once they have approved war, Obama will go for it.  Then he can say, however, “well, I had congressional approval.”

Obama is a great speechmaker and a master politician.  Damned shame he’s a shit human being.