Slate Pitch: Obama Is the Shrewdest Political Tactician Since LBJ

[babylonsister]

Slate Pitch: Obama Is the Shrewdest Political Tactician Since LBJ
The conventional wisdom is that the president botched Syria and hasn't been up to the game of Washington power-playing. Really?

—By David Corn
| Tue Sep. 24, 2013 3:00 AM PDT


Valery Sharifulin/ZUMA


The conventional view in Washington these days is that President Barack Obama is not having such a great second term and might already be suffering a bit of lame duckery. After all, he failed to overcome NRA and GOP opposition to modest gun safety legislation after the horrific Newtown massacre, and his immigration reform push has crashed into that brick wall known as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But here's a Slate pitch: Obama is the most wily tactician in the nation's capital since Lyndon Johnson.

Consider what Obama has recently done to two of his most bothersome foes: Vladimir Putin and John Boehner. Faced with the thorny question of how to respond to the Bashar al-Assad's presumed use of chemical weapons in Syria, Obama sent conflicting messages at first. He dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to deliver a hawkish message that seemed to suggest a retaliatory but limited strike against the regime was imminent, but then Obama surprisingly announced he would seek authorization from Congress for such an attack, fully realizing that such a move would take weeks to pull off—that is, if he could rally sufficient votes.

Having sparked a contentious debate on Capitol Hill—with opposition to a strike on the rise—Obama appeared to have led himself into a political quagmire. He got perilously close to what could have been an embarrassing defeat. But before Congress could vote, this mess yielded a beneficial outcome: it drew Putin into co-ownership of the chemical weapons problem. As Obama failed to gain support on the Hill for an attack on the Assad regime, Putin leapt into the fray to broker a deal that would supposedly end with Syria's chemical weapons under international control.

Whether by design or dumb luck, Obama succeeded in placing Putin on the hook for Assad's chemical weapons. The Russian leader was now acknowledging that Assad's stockpile was indeed a problem and, more important, assuming the role of guarantor. Certainly, the subsequent negotiations would be difficult, with Assad likely to slow-walk and obfuscate. But having sucked Putin into the process, Obama had increased the odds of achieving his chief goal: preventing the further use of chemical weapons by the regime. With Russia-brokered talks underway, could Assad deploy chemical weapons again? Doing so would risk embarrassing (and maybe angering) Putin, Assad's top benefactor.

Hawks on Capitol Hill and elsewhere were not happy that Obama traded a military attack for talks that are likely to be frustrating. But Obama's original aim was not negotiating a chemical weapons accord with Assad but a more narrow goal: stopping another chemical weapons attack. With Putin, perhaps Obama's most pesky antagonist on the world stage, now invested in an international effort to remove Assad's chemical weapons from the Syrian tyrant's control, Obama may well have succeeded. (One side benefit might be a détente with Iran.)

Back home, Obama has placed House Speaker Boehner in a different sort of hot seat. By declining to negotiate with Boehner about defunding Obamacare in order to prevent a government shutdown, the president has fueled the ongoing civil war within GOP ranks. True, this pitched battle would wage with or without Obama, as tea partiers try to hold the government hostage in order to destroy Obama's health care program and less extreme Republicans contend that this act of political terrorism will backfire against their party. But sometimes in politics, it takes discipline to stand back and not get in the way when an opponent is self-immolating.

more...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/slate-pitch-obama-shrewd-political-strategist

[Avalux]

1. I haven't read the whole article yet, but Rec'ing nonetheless! Love you David Corn!

This is exactly what I've been saying about Obama.

[Avalux]

2. Ok, now I've read it and it's brilliant. Can't believe this post hasn't received more attention. nt

[Robbins]

3. Obama

1:He has proven his goal In syria wasn't to start a war but prevent more chemical attacks.

Those like mccain are now pissed they don't get a war

2:Obama has got a civil war going among GOP,and has proven what a weak leader Boehner truly Is

The government may shut down temporly but the public can see the house GOp as soulles bullys who want to take food stmaps from poor,Seniors,and disabled and also want to take health care away so badly they are willing to close down the government to do It.

When the non tea party faction of republican party see how badly this Is going there will be vote to fund government with defunding obamacare taken out.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. The Keyboard Punchers here on DU will have you believe that it was all because

of them that the war was stopped. You see, Obama is a neocon who creamed his pants over bombing Syria, but they swooped in and stopped in as he was just about to push the button. They have so much influence over his actions, you know. It is THEY who know what's best.

[joshcryer]

7. Yeah, DUers stopped the Syria attack...

...but somehow failed to get single payer at the discussion roundtables, failed to get the public option (well, we kind of have it in a round-about way but it's not legislative it's administrative), failed to keep Chained-CPI from being put on the table, failed to get a better jobs bill passed, etc, etc.

As far as successes vs failures DU is doing horrible.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

8. LOL!! Good point!! Too funny, those keyboard punchers. Too funny!!

[applegrove]

5. Will read this later. K&R

[Sunlei]

6. Now we need the names of who the investors were that profited from Russian sales to Syria

American citizens are supposed to be banned. good article!