Trying to Detract from Giving Pres. Obama his Due Reminds of the Seal Team 6 Crowd

[LaydeeBug]

Regardless of whether this was chess or whatever, the President of the United States did NOT yet authorize military action in Syria. He *always* had the authority. He still wields that authority now. Why is it so hard to recognize that he did a good job?

If he planned this whole thing, as some suggest, he is masterful. If he did NOT plan this whole thing, it shows he can think on his feet, and that's masterful. Win/win.

We *all* won when he didn't turn into a war monger.

And yes, it definitely looked like it was headed that way.

Why do we have to detract from this moral victory? Oh, it wasn't *him*, it was Vladmir Putin. It was the Congress. It was Seal Team Six. smh

[NYC_SKP]

1. There is a contingent who love to see him fail and hate to see him win.

It's pretty sick, when you think about it.

[LaydeeBug]

2. It's bizarre. We're all in this together

and I am glad he decided, and let's be clear, *he's* the decider (LOL) not to invade Syria.

How is that not awesome?

[NYC_SKP]

7. Some people don't like the badass Obama.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Yeah

It is . . .

[Cali_Democrat]

14. Look what you spawned

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023638905

[NYC_SKP]

38. Now I can honestly say that William Pitt posted my work without attribution!!!11!!

That's a hoot!

[Whisp]

54. 'If you didn't want your balls in this particular vise, you should not have dangled them there'

[NYC_SKP]

55. I'm like Obama....

Imma BadAss!

Balls a danglin'!

[Whisp]

56. You've got balls, that dingle dongle dangle...

that's a song, isn't it?

[malaise]

17. Yes indeed

[Cha]

78. Yes, and they're busy little beavers showing off their

special skills at twisting all the hate they can wring out of this win for Obama.
It's actually quite amusing in a pathetic kind of way.

"There is a contingent who love to see him fail and hate to see him win."

Immortal words.

[elleng]

4. THANKS, LaydeeBug!

[LaydeeBug]

5. You're welcome sweets.

I'm serious. I battle teabaggers all the time, and some of this is starting to sound a little close.

[riqster]

6. People projected their unrealistic expections onto Obama...

And are pissed that he did not live up to them.

The fact is, we elected a Chicago lawyer to clean up Bush's mess. That's it. And he has busted ass to do so.

[Cha]

79. We elected a Contitutional law lawyer, a community organizer, and

a US Senator who's doing a hellava job cleaning up bush's mess.

Now he's a freaking world class community organizer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110215743

[riqster]

83. That is also based in reality. Nt

[HappyMe]

8. Thanks for this.

Positive posts are always good to see.

[UtahLib]

9. Thanks for a breath of fresh air. nt

[Tikki]

10. For sure..and how they refer to our President is their tell..

Thanks LaydeeBug..




Tikki

[NuclearDem]

11. He does deserve some credit for this.

But there's a lot of credit to go around. I can give him credit where it's due, but there's a degree of cult of personality here that's poisonous to the discussion.

[QuestForSense]

15. I agree generally

But we might be jumping the gun, so to speak. You are absolutely correct about the cult of personality being poisonous. The opposite of crazy is crazier.

[rury]

37. There is a degree of unadulterated Obama hatred here

That is poisonous to any discussion.

[PragmaticLiberal]

104. When I first joined DU I initially dismissed statements like this.

But after having been a member for awhile sadly, I have to agree with you.

[sibelian]

12. ...

What?

[CakeGrrl]

13. You forgot

The keyboard warriors who post "NO to Obama's warmongering!!" daily.

THAT turned the tide.

Anything but the President having a hand in driving this.

Despite reality.

[The Wizard]

16. He's still the smartest guy in the room

and Repubes are still jerkoffs.

[Andy823]

18. I totally agree with you

I think that some people just like to run around with their hair on fire instead of just waiting things out to see what happens. Armchair quarterbacks are a dime a dozen, but not one of them has the information that the president has, or the knowledge of what is actually going on behind closed doors. The media loves to hype things up, and sadly many here like to take the right wing bait and use it to go after the president. Sad but true.

Thanks for the post, he dose deserve credit for once again doing the right thing.

[Jamaal510]

27. Or in this case...

"Armchair quarterbacks are a dime a dozen, but not one of them has the information that the president has, or the knowledge of what is actually going on behind closed doors."

...armchair presidents.

[Andy823]

51. Good point.

Thanks that works much better.

[TBF]

19. I don't think he planned it -

but I think he managed this crisis well considering what he is dealing with - and the lengths the republicans will go to in trying to make him look bad.

We all know how it would've ended with Bush in charge ...

[Ocelot]

20. Bullshit. Obama does NOT "have the authority" to strike Syria.

Just because first Bush, now Obama claim they have some kind of "authority" to authorize military actions against other countries without Congressional approval does not mean that authority is LEGAL. It isn't, and never will be.

[LaydeeBug]

24. No, it's not bullshit. Check Bill Clinton in the Balkans when the repig Congress *specifically*

voted no.

[Ocelot]

58. Any violation of the War Powers Act is illegal

Obama knows he can't do anything without Congress, and Congress won't give him what he wants That's why he and Kerry are bowing out of military strikes. Plain and simple.

[LaydeeBug]

59. except when it's not, like Bill Clinton in the Balkans.

Plain and simple

[Ocelot]

61. I triple-dare Obama to attack Syria without Congressional approval

He knows what shaky ground he's on among Democrats, with 73% of MoveOn members voting for no strikes of any kind on Syria. He's expended his capital with his own party by doing this shit after lying to us about the extent of NSA spying.

Again, I triple-dare him.

[truebluegreen]

62. And just picture how the Repukes in the House will react

when he gives them an impeachable offense on a platter.

[LaydeeBug]

63. Good Lord, really? I triple DOG decker dare him NOT to authorize an invasion

so now he is even MORE badass if he doesn't.

[Ocelot]

73. You'll get your wish

I don't want him to authorize one either.

[bowens43]

21. there is a group who will praise and kneel at his feet no matter how incompetent he is.....

those trying to spin this as victory for Obama are flat out wrong. Luckily the Russians seem to be pulling his ass out of the fire.

[rury]

35. He is not incompetent

You just expect him to be incompetent because he is black.
And if Putin pulled anybody's ass out of the fire, it was his buddy Assad who was about to have his reign destabilized.
Putin does not even particularly like President Obama, he probably dislikes him as much as you do.
You are just pissed off that President Obama played this masterfully. You cannot STAND to see him succeed!!!!!!!!
It's about dinner time now.
GO ENJOY YOUR CROW, LOSER/HATER!!

[heaven05]

46. +1000

[Cha]

80. You'll have to excuse the Putin

fans, rury. They've latched on to him as their hero to save them all from big bad Obama

.

Only, I think Putin likes Pres Obama way more than the ODS contingent around here.

[joeybee12]

22. First of all, he doesn't have the authority, Congress does...

So try again.

[LaydeeBug]

25. First of all, there's debate about that, so check yourself. nt

[Cryptoad]

34. SCUS says he has the Authority...... nt

[DinahMoeHum]

23. The "Seal Team 6 Crowd" my ass. Odds are. . .

they never served in uniform, much less belonged to Navy SEALs.

[NewJeffCT]

42. A lot of Republicans

and maybe a few Democrats thought Obama didn't deserve any credit for killing bin Laden - saying it was all on Seal Team Six (and the various intelligence agencies) for performing the operation. It wasn't about if people were in the military or not.

[secondwind]

26. thanks for posting this... it needed to be said.

[morningfog]

28. He never had the legal authority. I am glad he

has chosen not to violate international, for now. I am relieved he has not entered us into a violent civil war, for now.

I hope this delay clears from his head the ideas that war is necessary.

[LaydeeBug]

32. He has the authority.

He can call it 'police action' like Truman did

[morningfog]

33. Didn't Truman have the UN?

[LaydeeBug]

44. so?

[morningfog]

48. That made it legal.

[LaydeeBug]

49. Bill Clinton in the Balkans. nt

[frylock]

70. NATO

[morningfog]

71. That one was illegal, but at least had UN involvement and NATO.

[LanternWaste]

29. To be honest, I don't think the situation has been fully resolved yet...

To be honest, I don't think the situation has been fully resolved yet. I do think that at this point, we're at the beginning of the final act, but that for any one side (of seven sides by my count) to yet proclaim victory is at best, prophecy.

I do think that Assad was pressured to act as he did yesterday through diplomacy and back-channel strategies, but a diplomacy predicated of potential airstrikes (coercion, for lack of a better word-- Gunboat Diplomacy for a ham-handed euphemism not altogether accurate in this case).

However, I simply do not think we're at the end game yet, and far too many national and regional interest groups have yet to extinguish their matches they are still holding ominously over the fire.

And as many people are giving Pres Obama sole credit for this potential resolution, there are just as many others doing everything possible to deny him any credit whatsoever.

From where I sit, Pres Obama has studiously considered all tools available to him, and constantly revises those considerations as the situation itself continues to develop. That, if nothing else, is a good thing to see in an administration.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. thank you. So much chaos, few opinions I want to focus on

Very well said.

[NewJeffCT]

43. I agree that it's not all resolved yet

Hopefully, it all plays out positively for all sides... or, as positively as it can.

[rury]

30. Well done President Obama

President Obama was right on Libya, right on General Motors, right on bin Laden and now right again on Syria.
But his haters and detractors won't admit that.
They will keep wrongly asserting that the president "bungled" this issue.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

39. ×1000000

So true.

[Cryptoad]

31. President Obama

punked all his Haters!

Thank you Mr President!

[TrollBuster9090]

40. I'll tell you one other thing this says. Most of the crackpot GOP would rather embrace a PUTIN plan

than an OBAMA plan. How pitiful is it when most of the Republican House caucus would rather side with Vladimir Putin than the President of the United States?

[Tveil]

45. Repubes love the bare chested Putins nipples n/t

[sulphurdunn]

41. "He always had the authority?"

Perhaps you could posit the constitutional basis for that.

[truebluegreen]

64. Yes, I would like to see that too!

Something more than "Clinton in the Balkans!"

[sulphurdunn]

81. We are signatories

of the UN Charter and the Nuremberg accords. Neither permit offensive war to be waged except in self-defense or (in the case of the UN Charter) authorization by that body to enforce international law. The former does not exist, and no authority for the latter has been obtained. The same international law Syria has violated, President Obama has threatened to violate to enforce.

[truebluegreen]

90. I know. I was agreeing with you.

I wanted to see the basis for Obama's alleged authority.

[sulphurdunn]

96. I guess I was just

thinking out loud.

[Logical]

47. He wanted to bomb, we said NO, he backed off and found another solution. End of story. n-t

[LanternWaste]

65. Post hoc ergo prompter hoc

Post hoc ergo prompter hoc. A logical fallacy... kind of ironic.

[Logical]

66. Chess. He's got this. I get it. n-t

[Scurrilous]

50. K & R

[Whisp]

52. actually, I hear it was the 'progressives' on DU. n/t

[LaydeeBug]

57. ikr? But it's getting really out of hand...

it's like no one is fighting the righties because they're too busy measuring the depths of everyone's 'leftiness' .

Who is the more pure democrat? Oh you're only a democrat? Well, I'm a *socialist*. Well I loved Obama before you, so...

I mean this is crazy! Oft repeated lies become the truth if you let them reat it enough. Shouldn't we coordinate against THEIR message instead of fighting our own?

This shit's gettin' cray

[HangOnKids]

60. Reat it enough and then cray?

Were you trying to say something? I'm sorry the plot lost me. Care to clarify?

[LaydeeBug]

68. Oh, I am so sorry for the typos, but there are things called context clues...

but then again, I am pretty sure you knew that. In short, the *plot* didn't lose you, honey...

[HangOnKids]

72. Honey?

No!

[LaydeeBug]

88. LOL! As if you get a choice, honey.

But I *bet* you thought you were *contributing* something, didn't you?

[HangOnKids]

98. Please take your bets to the track

I'm sure there is a trifecta just waiting for you.

[LaydeeBug]

100. No.

nt

[99Forever]

53. Bwahahahahahahah.

Funny stuff, dooood.

[LaydeeBug]

89. ummm...oh, you're just a scream

dooooooooooooooooood.

[Corruption Inc]

67. What about the war crime committed? Forget about that?

Are you really so distracted by political victories or losses that you've lost all humanity? People were slaughtered, just like they were in Iraq and Afghanistan and yet no war criminals will ever be held accountable.

Nobody wins, humanity loses as long as war criminals are not pursued.

[LaydeeBug]

69. Oh please...we shouldn't be in Iraq or Afghanistan either, but to suggest

that avoiding this action is somehow muted because we haven't pursued war criminals is a bit beyond the pale.

[sulphurdunn]

82. The President has

threatened to commit a war crime by claiming the right to attack Syria peremptorily without UN authorization, just like George Bush did in Iraq.

[Nevernose]

74. You're right: he thought on his feet

And -- assuming this all works out for the best -- this is a win for Obama and for the world.

I think that the concept of 11th dimensional chess is kind of dumb, honestly. Attacking Syria was the wrong move, illegal, illogical, and immoral. But apparently Ban Ki Moon floated a trial balloon at the UN, people picked up on it, and Obama was smart enough to seize the opportunity.

I'll also point out that while I've been on this site for over a week arguing against attacking Syria, I never bashed Obama beyond saying he was making a big mistake.

[truedelphi]

75. The President is not able to authorize any military action

Whatsoever unless that action has first been ratified by Congress.


The one exception being, a response to direct nuclear attack on our nation.

You might want to read Article One and Two of the US Constitution.

And the House of Representatives isn't about to vote for a war or military action against Syria.

[LaydeeBug]

84. yes he is. nt

[truedelphi]

99. Whatever.

I mean, I am sure that inside the special "Because Obama" edition of the US Constitution, it states he can do whatever the heck he wants.

But in the authentic US Constitution, any use of force in a foreign land that is considered war must have Congressional Authorization.

Which is one important reason why the President said that Congress would vote on the matter.

[LaydeeBug]

101. Nope. It's the special

"just say it's to make us safer" and it flies.

But *I* know...it doesn't apply to Obama.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

76. hey, get the memo. Obama was photshopped in. He was playing golf--not in sitch room.

get a clue.

[Hekate]

77. Thanks LaydeeBug. It's not over till it's over, but the Seal Team 6 analogy is apt enough

No credit will be given by some, ever.

KnR

[Democat]

85. DU is full of anti Obama hatred these days

Not sure how the admins allowed this site to turn into the anti Obama website.

[LaydeeBug]

87. It's also full of bullies, and the haters and the bullies are not all the same

I'm not kidding that I say that I battle righties all the time. What's been happening on these boards looks very similar.

Our President is not infallible. I have criticized him like many others. But he certainly deserves credit where credit is due, and dag nabbit, he deserves some god-damned credit.

Were push to come to shove, I'd say he thought quickly on his feet and played the hand he was dealt. Others think it was 3 d chess.

SO WHAT?

Arguing matters of opinion when it comes to things like these will only divide us further. AND IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE.

[MrScorpio]

86. Damn skippy! nt

[LWolf]

91. Jesus Fucking Christ on a bleeding cracker.

It's not always about Obama.

In this case, it's about the fact that war is wrong. Bombing people is wrong. Just as wrong as gassing them. IT'S WRONG.

It would be wrong no matter what position Obama took on it, no matter what he said or did or says or does about it. IT'S WRONG.

It's not about Obama. He is not the center of, the "decider," of the universe. Everything that happens is not about him, or because of him.

[LaydeeBug]

92. you seem a little stressed...

because nothing you posted mutually excludes the other.

Yep. War is WRONG.

Yep. He didn't authorize war.

And *then* we got the bonus here, of "it's not the President, it's Putin"

"It's Russia"

"It's seal team 6"

[LWolf]

93. Stressed?

By life.

Here? Just a knee-jerk response to yet another post that takes a bigger situation and can't do anything with it but make it about Barack Obama.

[LaydeeBug]

95. Oh, I agree about the knee jerking. Jesus Fucking Christ on a bleeding cracker and all

nt

[BumRushDaShow]

94. The black face trumps all

It causes all sorts of heads to explode because it flies in the face of centuries-long internalized stereotypes.

Ann Coulter described their sickness the best by vomiting forth the comment that Putin made Obama "his monkey".

[DonCoquixote]

102. not quite

The fact is, war should not have been threatened. He could have made this same offer to Russia without war, at which point, the blame for any war would have shifted to Putin.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

103. The panel with Maddow last night had it right

There won't be any military action now because Putin now knows that if Assad uses CW again (which by the way was implicitly admitted here, along with the simple fact that he has CW), it's on him. Putin has to keep Assad on a leash, distasteful as that task might be. That's what Obama accomplished here.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Russia is a minor power now with only the ability to irritate. Their GDP is roughly equal to California, and depending on the price of oil and gas (a developed industrial country by definition does not depend for its earnings on raw materials, by the way) they can fall above or below it.
Anyway, they played out their one card as much as they could, but in the end had to come back to the simple truth that they really have no choice. Just the way it is.

It's a chess thing (!!!): the threat is almost always worse than the execution. Keeping the threat in place forces your opponent to do things he'd rather not, so better to keep the threat, and forego the execution.