The president climbs down

O's speech

My response to the president’s address.

It is a silly norm.

We are not sure the Assad government did it.

There is no threat to us if we do not intervene and no increased danger to the world of future use of gas by dictators.

It matters no more whether Assad uses gas in future in this war than it does whether his forces use fragmentation grenades, claymore mines, or napalm.

This is a silly norm.

It is possible that use of gas could become more common in future warfare if the norm is abandoned, but so what?

And as for it becoming more common, not because the norm is generally abandoned but because it is not enforced on this occasion, or even on any occasion, again, so what?

As for the danger that failure to “stand against chemical weapons” might encourage Iran to go nuclear, isn’t it more likely that our constant meddling encourages that?

And isn’t that much more Israel’s, and Europe’s, and Saudi Arabia’s, and Turkey’s problem than ours?

One lesson of history is that there is always another dictator and there are always more war crimes and crimes against humanity, anyway.

One lesson of GW’s neocon wars, in particular, is that a war for the elimination of evil-doers must go on forever and fail just the same.

Remember the flood only Noah and his righteous family survived?

Didn’t help.

But liberals love massive bloodshed in defense of absurd taboos.

Think of the beheadings we have seen for even the most private mumbles of “nigger” by angry white men or “kike” by Christians.

As to his assertion that he has the authority to order the military strike he describes for retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation that may or may not be correct.

It is certainly different from what he said in 2007 and a very unpopular view, this week, in DC and throughout America.

His assertion that he rejects the role of globocop in a speech demanding we be the world’s one and only is absurd.

Particularly given his resounding endorsement of the role at the end of his speech, complete with hypocritical quotation of FDR’s own hypocrisy on just this point.

His attempt to put off any congressional vote until after the Syrians have a plausible shot at fulfilling the Russian plan is understandable and deft, given the excellent chance he would lose the vote and that the loss could easily scuttle the Russian deal.

Update.

Wow.

Spinmeisters, indeed.

TPM’s headline for the story of this very prudent presidential move to avoid even worse humiliation.

Obama Gives Congress Reprieve On Syria

Yeah.

That’s what happened.

Update, again.

And then there is spin in the opposite direction

Obama Rescues Assad

With the equally ludicrous subtitle, “The President lets Putin outmaneuver him on Syrian chemical arms.”