How can this be?
After a 45-minute walk Friday night, President Barack Obama made a fateful decision that none of his top national security advisers saw coming: To seek congressional authorization before taking military action in Syria....
Aides said the decision was made by Mr. Obama and Mr. Obama alone. It shows the primacy the president places on protecting his hoped-for legacy as a commander in chief who did everything in his power to disentangle the U.S. from overseas wars. Until Friday night, Mr. Obama's national-security team didn't even have an option on the table to seek a congressional authorization.
The only real discussion was a plan to punish Mr. Assad for what the U.S. and others have called a chemical-weapons attack amid Syria's grinding civil war. The final question, policy makers thought, was how many targets to hit and when to tell the Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean to open fire.
Obama's been consulting military, intelligence, diplomatic, political and legal advisers. He asked for a detailed review of his options should Assad use chemical weapons on his own people.
His advisors have included VP Joe Biden, SoS John Kerry, Sec of Defense Chuck Hagel, WH chief of staff Denis McDonough, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, WH Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, Deputy AG James Cole, Deputy National Security Advisor Antony Blinken, Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor Lisa Monaco, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Benjamin Rhodes, and Biden National Security Advisor Jacob Sullivan.
And NOBODY thought to bring up consulting Congress?
Good thing President Obama had one other advisor available to call on: Barack Obama circa 2007:
"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.
As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action."
Sounds like someone needs to upgrade the quality of advice he's getting around that national security table.
And the "humanitarian interventionists" that have gotten Obama backed into this particular corner (cough Samantha Power cough) should be the very first to go.
May the teabag Republicans in Congress finally do something good for the first time in their worthless lives and pull his ass out of the fire by voting this sucker down.