Boehner & Obama

For the first time since Obama has been president of the United States has the Senate been united behind him on anything; Obama’s plan to train and arm Syrian rebels received a strong YEAH in the Senate. If you blinked too long you may have missed it. Then again, you couldn’t. It’s all over the wire. The irony this time is the Republicans helped make it happen. A number of Democrats opposed the idea.

What’s going on in Washington? Have the Republicans turned Democrats? Have they finally fallen in love with Obama? Unless you were oblivious of the world events for the past few decades, it should not be a surprise to read that Republicans are always in the ready state to go to war with some country, any country; pick one. Even during his presidential bid for president in 2008, Senator John McCain’s most famous line was bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Fortunately, the country elected a President, Mr. Obama, who is not eager to go to war. Even in the face of a world threat such as ISIS, Mr. Obama has been very careful in crafting strategy to deal with the situation. The Republicans have been frustrated with Mr. Obama’s approach to world’s events; they’ve accused him of being responsible for what’s going on everywhere in the world. Then again, it shouldn’t be a surprise; Obama is also responsible for the climate change, if you ask a Republican. I digress.

When ISIS beheaded the American journalist Steven Sotloff, the warmongers lined up and paraded their stars (including the disgraced vice president Dick Cheney) to pressure the Obama administration to use the opportunity to go to war with Syria. Thankfully, Obama’s coolheaded approach has prevailed; instead, he delegated his Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, to rally the regions’ leaders behind a campaign to fight ISIS. However, the Obama administration has made the disastrous diplomatic mistake, surely a historical one, to exclude Syria from the coalition. Notwithstanding US position and policy on Syria, the Syrian President, Mr. Assad, is in the best position to help quell the ISIS movement. As per its movement, its strongest foothold is in the borders of Syria and Iraq; Iraq is already in US corner. With Assad’s assistance to flush ISIS out of Syria, ISIS’ troops would be exposed and have nowhere to go; many would be killed or captured, thus decimating the movement. What do I know? I am not a diplomat. I digress.

The Obama administration has been contemplating for a while now the strategy to help the Syrian rebels – who want Assad out – to achieve their objectives; ISIS’ aggressive campaign of terror provides Mr. Obama just such opportunity. However, to train and arm the Syrian rebels will not put a dent on the ISIS’ movement; its troops have both experience and financial backing. The Republican think tank saw a real opening and opportunity for a much more engaged confrontation, not just with ISIS but with the Syrian army (read Assad) as well, exactly what they’ve been hoping for all along. It is not out of support for Obama nor out of love for the country that the Republicans voted YEAH to authorize the President to train the Syrian rebels. It is their expectation that it will expand into an all-out war with Syria, for the warmongers in the United States want nothing less than to bring back the good old days where America is at war with some country, any country. That is all it took to unite both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the White House. Beyond that, let the bickering, the nasty discourse and the gridlock continue!

Follow Mike Ducheine on Twitter: @mducheiney

Email me at: mducheiney@gmail.com
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