# Obama passing the ball to Congress for now - predictions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710 "2013-09-01T03:42:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/161 "2013-09-03T20:39:52Z")
Listening to Kerry lobby Congress now, and he keeps saying how Syria is secular and that Syrians don’t want an islamist state. \*Is he fucking kidding? \* How often have we heard that type of nonsense-- that countries much less ethnically and secularly divided than Syria would unite to build a secular, inclusive society once they strongman who kept it all together was gone. > [@Aji de Gallina](#): > > If Assad goes down, Act 2 is a nice massacre of Alawites: who do we bomb then? Act 3 will be the same for the Christians. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/162 "2013-09-03T20:40:01Z")
Given the chance, when did the US political class ever decide not to blow the fuck out of anything? And then blow the fuck out of it some more. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/163 "2013-09-03T20:43:07Z")
We didn’t realize we were electing Barack O-bomb-a. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/164 "2013-09-03T20:43:14Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > Given the chance, when did the US political class ever decide not to blow the fuck out of anything? And then blow the fuck out of it some more. Rwanda. You happy about that? ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/165 "2013-09-03T20:50:20Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Rwanda. You happy about that? The US knew exactly what it was doing, and which dog it was backing in that fight. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/166 "2013-09-03T20:52:17Z")
That was the French. Not us. ---
**Author:** ![georgewk10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@georgewk10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/georgewk10)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/167 "2013-09-03T20:55:59Z")
Obama for dummies. that’s us. > **[Obama for Dummies](https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/03/obama-for-dummies/)** > > White House 101 ya know my spell check doesn’t like obama spelling. what’sup? ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/168 "2013-09-03T20:56:16Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > And this just in: Speaker Boner and Rep. Cantor support Obama resolution. In other news, umbrella makers stock skyrocket on sudden advent of flying pigs… I’m stunned. I wonder if this is a political calculation or did the Speaker took a look at the intelligence. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/169 "2013-09-03T21:01:22Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > The US knew exactly what it was doing, and which dog it was backing in that fight. Same thing with the genocide in Darfur? You’re happy with the US non-intervention there, too? How about the Second Congo War? The US chose not to bomb anyone and a few million people died. Good news, right? We’ve had a heck of a lot of opportunities to bomb North Korea. Yet we haven’t. Is it because the US government is secretly backing the powerful American corporate interests that prop up Kim Jong Un? ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/170 "2013-09-03T21:30:31Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The one thing that Americans are more tired of then anything else is the partisan dis-function of Washington. Are you suggesting that now, Americans will be delighted that Washington can work in bi-partisan fashion even if it ONLY means bombing another piss-poor country? Oh, man… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/171 "2013-09-03T21:41:39Z")
Given AIPAC is in favor it is pretty clear that it will be authorized. > [@](#): > > “Administration officials said the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee was already at work pressing for military action against the government of Assad, fearing that if Syria escapes American retribution for its use of chemical weapons, Iran might be emboldened in the future to attack Israel. In the House, the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican in Congress, has long worked to challenge Democrats’ traditional base among Jews. > > One administration official, who, like others, declined to be identified discussing White House strategy, called AIPAC “the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” and said its allies in Congress had to be saying, “If the White House is not capable of enforcing this red line” against the catastrophic use of chemical weapons, “we’re in trouble.” [http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/09/ny-times-scraps-aipac-from-syria-story-171669.html](http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/09/ny-times-scraps-aipac-from-syria-story-171669.html) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/172 "2013-09-03T21:49:59Z")
Dear AIPAC: If you could just…go ahead, and shut the fuck up about how happy you are to see the US attack one of Israel’s staunchest enemies that would be great. Trouble we got, trouble we are making, more trouble we don’t need. Your friend, US of A ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/173 "2013-09-03T21:54:01Z")
> [@Chen019](#): > > Given AIPAC is in favor it is pretty clear that it will be authorized. Again, reports of anonymous “administration officials” who are clearly interested in spreading this [mis]information are quite suspect. Israel is quite [content to be sitting on the sidelines](http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/1.544753?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.216%2C2.217%2C), and quite willing to let the factions inside Syria fight out out. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/174 "2013-09-03T22:07:24Z")
True, Israel is widely known for its unanimity of opinion. Jews hate to argue, everybody knows that. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/175 "2013-09-03T22:38:34Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Listening to Kerry lobby Congress now, and he keeps saying how Syria is secular and that Syrians don’t want an islamist state. \*Is he fucking kidding? \* How often have we heard that type of nonsense-- that countries much less ethnically and secularly divided than Syria would unite to build a secular, inclusive society once they strongman who kept it all together was gone. [/quote] Did you miss that part when he said: "…that people who have served, like himself and Hagel and McCain, know that what Obama is requesting is “ **nothing like going to war**.” Yup, nothing like lobbing a few missiles to make new friends. :rolleyes: Orwell must so proud of him. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/176 "2013-09-03T23:43:20Z")
I doubt Mccain would argue that it’s nothing like going to war. Or Hagel. That’s a Kerryism right there. If Kerry had actually learned something from the sale of the Iraq war that he spent a whole campaign criticizing, then he’d learn that you don’t ‘sell’ a war, and you certainly don’t talk about how easy and not like a real war it will be. Sure, it’s possible that we’ll just hit Syria and nothing else will happen. It’s also possible that Syria will set their Hezbollah operatives in the US into action. Then it’s our move, and it’s pretty obvious what our response to homeland attacks would be: war. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/177 "2013-09-03T23:53:53Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Israel is quite [content to be sitting on the sidelines](http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/1.544753?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.216%2C2.217%2C), and quite willing to let the factions inside Syria fight out out. :dubious: But your interpretation of the article is totally wrong at worst and misleading at least. I mean… seriously :rolleyes: Netanyahu already criticized one minster and told others to be quiet - that only means what Israel thinks is probably not good so better to be quiet than speak up. In no way this article can be interpreted as “sitting on the sidelines”. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/178 "2013-09-03T23:58:39Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Again, reports of anonymous “administration officials” who are clearly interested in spreading this [mis]information are quite suspect. [Sure they are](http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/09/ny-times-scraps-aipac-from-syria-story-171669.html) > [@](#): > > A reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was mysteriously cut from a New York Times article published online Monday and in print Tuesday. The first version, published online Monday, quotes an anonymous administration official calling AIPAC the “800-pound gorilla in the room.” ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/179 "2013-09-04T00:59:01Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > :dubious: > > But your interpretation of the article is totally wrong at worst and misleading at least. I mean… seriously :rolleyes: > > Netanyahu already criticized one minster and told others to be quiet - that only means what Israel thinks is probably not good so better to be quiet than speak up. In no way this article can be interpreted as “sitting on the sidelines”. Yes, “quiet” is “sitting on the sidelines”. Israel has never been reluctant to express its interests. The thing that Israel is seeing right now is how well (or badly) US is at keeping its promises. US has been promising Israel forever to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons “or else”. That promise seems to be extremely nebulous now. Other than that, Israel is not interested in Assad winning or the opposition winning in Syria. The best outcome is that the two exhaust each other. It’s the best outcome for US as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710/180 "2013-09-04T04:06:53Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Yes, “quiet” is “sitting on the sidelines”. Israel has never been reluctant to express its interests. > > The thing that Israel is seeing right now is how well (or badly) US is at keeping its promises. US has been promising Israel forever to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons “or else”. That promise seems to be extremely nebulous now. > > Other than that, Israel is not interested in Assad winning or the opposition winning in Syria. The best outcome is that the two exhaust each other. It’s the best outcome for US as well. AIPAC lobby’s on behalf of Israel’s interests? If AIPAC supports intervention then presumably that must represent the Israel position on some level, even if it isn’t explicitly stated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-passing-the-ball-to-congress-for-now-predictions/667710.md?page=10)