Morning Examiner: Unpopular at home, abandoned abroad, Obama scales down bombing campaign

If you want to know why President Obama will not ask Congress for permission to bomb Syria, you only need to look across the Atlantic, where British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a humiliating defeat Thursday, when the British Parliament defeated his motion for British backing of the use of force against Syria.

Unilateral is as unilateral does
Since both Russia and China would block any United Nations Security Council resolution approving an attack on Syria, and now that the British people have told their government they don’t want to participate, Obama has no one else to act with him, should he choose to go ahead with his bombing.

Faced with a total lack of international help, Obama is scaling back his bombing plans. “Here, what’s being contemplated is of such a limited and narrow nature that it’s not as if there’s a similar imperative for bringing in different capabilities from different countries,” a senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal.

A skeptical Congress
More than 100 House Republicans have signed a letter, written by Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., demanding that Obama seek approval from Congress before he bombs Syria. And they are not alone.

And more than 50 House Democrats have signed a separate letter, written by Rep. Barbara Lee, R-Calif., demanding a similar vote. “While we understand that as commander-in-chief you have a constitutional obligation to protect our national interests from direct attack, Congress has the constitutional obligation and power to approve military force, even if the United States or its direct interests (such as its embassies) have not been attacked or threatened with an attack,” Lee’s letter reads.

Via: Washington Examiner

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