President Obama was supposed to be the smart one. Yet only now — after losing the support of our old friend, Britain — does it seem to be dawning on him that an offhand remark about red lines has escalated into a global test of American credibility.
Here's how Secretary of State John Kerry put it at yesterday's hearings:
"Our silence would be a message to the ayatollah [in Iran] that America and the world are not serious about stopping their march to acquiring nuclear weapons. Israel would no longer believe that we have their back and would be hard-pressed to restrain itself. Our silence would embolden Kim Jong-un, who has a large chemical-weapons cache, and would send a message that we are not serious about protecting South Korea and the region from nuclear or chemical weapons, and would embolden Hezbollah and Hamas to redouble their efforts to acquire chemical weapons, and they might succeed."
Reuters
Vladimir Putin
It's already emboldening Vladimir Putin. As Syria's chief sponsor, he's spent the past few years shoring up Assad, as well as using Russia's spot on the Security Council to ensure there will be no UN approval for any action. Just in case his contempt isn't clear, Putin is now talking about sending Russians to lobby Congress.
For too long, Obama has indulged in the fantasy that he could just pronounce an end to, say, the War on Terror and it would go away. Yesterday, his security team offered a scathing indictment of that idea, noting that America's enemies are now calculating how much they can get away with based on how we respond to Syria. As they might have added, this is what happens when you substitute personality for a foreign policy.
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