Irreconcilable Differences

I'm going to let the president speak for himself.  Here is a quote from today:

"First of all, I didn't set a red line.  The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."

Barack Obama, September 4, 2013

He didn't draw that red line.  Somebody else made that happen.  :)  Let's check the transcript from last year:

"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.  That would change my calculus. That would change my equation."

Barack Obama, August 20, 2012

Interesting.  No mention of the world painting that redline.  He said it changed "my calculus." not humanity's calculus.  Sounds like he did draw that line and he is trying to dodge the blame.  This is doubtless why he has gone to Congress for approval.  Regardless of how Congress votes, he wins.  If they vote no, he can blame them for America's failure to punish Assad.  If they vote yes, Congress will share the blame for the almost inevitable disaster that follows.

On a related topic, it is a fact that Saddam Hussein gassed tens of thousands of his own people and yet Barack Obama declared Iraq to be the wrong war.  He hammered Bush for that war and played up his anti-war rhetoric throughout the 2008 campaign.  Why was it wrong to attack Saddam but right to attack Bashar?  Comparing apples to apples, Saddam was vastly worse than Bashar.  Would Senator Obama vote in favor of President Obama's warmongering?

 

Not to be cynical, but this Syrian mess comes at an ideal time for the president.  Who's talking about Obamacare right now?  Remember that IRS scandal?  How about the NSA spying scandal?  Benghazi?  Talk of a war has magically brushed aside all those pesky "phony" scandals.