President Barack Obama took his ceremonial walk down the White House carpet Tuesday night to address the American public on Syria and make a passionate case for military intervention should diplomatic talks with a Russia-Syria coalition fall through.
The president used his approximately 15-minute speech to discuss public opinion on military intervention as well as the potential for diplomatic talks with Syria. Obama also announced he would ask Congress to delay any voting on intervention until the talks were allowed to play out.
He began the address by giving background on the decision to intervene in Syria, including the discovery that the Syrian government had fired chemically equipped missiles into 11 Syrian neighborhoods Aug. 21. He also recapped his decision to defer to Congress on the issue of intervention.
Obama referred repeatedly to the images of women and children dying in hospitals from exposure to sarin gas as a potential catalyst for limited intervention.
Another catalyst was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s flaunting of international rules forbidding the use of chemical weapons. Obama conceded military intervention in the troubled region would not be popular among citizens who have dealt with prolonged engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq for most of recent history, but he reiterated the strike would evade prolonged engagement.
“The purpose of this strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime’s ability to use them, and to make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use,” Obama said.
Obama then dove into a quick succession of five question topics he had picked to sum up concerns he has received from critics. He attempted to dispatch concerns ranging from inadvertently arming future terrorist cells to possible retaliation in the region if limited, “pinprick” strikes were to occur. Obama guaranteed any authorized strikes would show the power of the U.S. military saying simply, “the United States military doesn’t do pinpricks.”
David Canon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor, said he thought Obama’s use of the questions to deliver his message was “quite effective” in conveying his stance on the issue.
The president waited until the end of his speech to address the “encouraging signs” that Syria might cooperate with the international community. The possibility of Syria’s cooperation stemmed from a seemingly offhand comment Secretary of State John Kerry made Monday morning suggesting Syria could avoid strikes by surrendering their chemical weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took Kerry’s comments to ally Syria and spearheaded the potential diplomatic cooperation.
Canon said Obama’s recommended delay of any congressional voting on intervention pending talks with Syria could potentially create a “win-win situation” for the president and Congress who have been faced with a muddled and high intensity consideration process.
However, if diplomatic talks were to fail, Canon said Obama would still face a majority vote against intervention.
Obama concluded his speech on the same humanitarian message he carried throughout.
“When … we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act,” Obama said. “That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.”
