Samantha Power Regrets Obama Admin Seeking Congressional Approval After Syrian “Red Line”
“In retrospect, I wish we hadn’t gone to Congress with the—in the red line moment”
When Obama drew his red line on the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians, few of us believed it. As it turned out Assad didn’t believe it, either, and dealt a serious blow to the Obama administration and to Obama’s legacy.
Ultimately, Obama decided to punt by seeking Congressional approval he didn’t need to respond to Syria flouting his red line. It was a bad move. Bad.
Since President Trump took office, Assad has reportedly used chemical weapons against his own people twice. In both instances, Trump responded with missile attacks against Syrian interests, prompting the progressive outlet Vox to note that “Obama’s ‘red line’ fiasco led to Trump bombing Syria.”
Trump agreed.
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/982969547283161090?lang=en
And now, former Obama administration official Samantha Powers acknowledges that was indeed a bad move.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on Thursday that she regrets President Barack Obama going to Congress to ask for authority to strike Syria after drawing a “red line.”
Obama had said chemical weapons use in Syria by Bashar al-Assad’s regime would be the “red line” that would prompt a U.S. military response. Following a chemical weapons attack, however, Obama did not take military action, and Power told an audience at Harvard that the administration misjudged the situation.
“In retrospect, I wish we hadn’t gone to Congress with the—in the red line moment, when we had already committed to using force,” Power said. “You know, I think, that was actually really a pivotal moment where we knew, prior to that point, that many of Obama’s critics were not at the level, you know, things they were for on a Monday if Obama was for them on a Tuesday they were then against them on a Wednesday.”
Power then blamed those who were frequent critics and opponents of Obama for his lack of action in Syria.
We knew that and yet that decision to go to Congress was made—and a lot of people don’t believe this, but in good faith, in believing that, given the number of people who in response to this monstrous attack on 1,500 people including several hundred kids, so many people come out kind of calling for the president to act, criticizing him for being feckless, and then the president turned around and said, “Okay, here, this is what I want to do. Now we can do this together,” and they basically kind of ran for the exits.
“I think that was a misjudgment,” she added.
Watch:
It’s worth noting that she is not concerned with America’s standing on the world stage, with our national security, or even with Mideast stability. Instead, she’s focused on politics, on Obama’s legacy . . . on, in other words, trivia.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
It wasn’t a bad move. It was EXACTLY the outcome Obama wanted.
Obama did what he had always done – leadership through polls.
Polls said people thought he was soft and weak on foreign policy. So in August 2012 right before the election, Obama did what he does best, and spewed bullshit about a ‘red line’ to boost his chances against Romney.
Obama never had any intention of doing anything meaningful about it when he was safely re-elected. Assad knew that, and called his bluff.
So Obama, like the weak little whiner that he was, searched for an excuse so he wouldn’t have to follow through. He KNEW Congress wouldn’t authorize any strike because he had no actual objective, no plan for after the strike, and no extended goal in the region. He KNEW Congress wasn’t going to authorize a strike with the effective objective of making Obama look good.
‘I can’t fight you in the parking lot like I said I was going to because Mommy said I’m not allowed’.
“It wasn’t a bad move. It was EXACTLY the outcome Obama wanted.”
Exactly what what obuma and powers wanted. Same with them wanting a nuclear IRAN
and Power told an audience at Harvard that the administration misjudged the situation.
The lying never stops. Obama misjudged nothing. He made as much of a pig’s breakfast of foreign affairs as he could, and it wasn’t accidental. So his “legacy”—one of abject fumbling exceeding even Carteresque levels—remains intact.
In foreign affairs, his goal was to cripple the US as a world power. As President—swagger, bluster, threaten, and weenie out at the last moment. Mission accomplished; the US takes a hit, the world’s great font of virulent Islam remains an ungovernable hellhole, and the more gullible (i.e., Democrats and the Press) will be happy to blame somebody else … preferably George W., but Congress will do. Oh, Obama miscalculated nothing.
Betray our country, friends and allies and help our enemies was Tyrant Obama the Liar’s foreign policy.
Betrayng our country, friends and allies and help our enemies was Tyrant Obama the Liar’s foreign policy.
Few public officials define the term “hack” better than this fraud. And as predictable as a clock, she ends up at Harvard’s Kennedy School. What a class of cretins.
Low I.Q. Cretin Traitors!
You’ve got it!
@Tom_Swift
Correct,. Look at the ideology of the church Obama attended, and his cozy relationship with Nation of Islam & Farrakhan.
Or, just look at the informal president, Valerie Jarrett.
Remember Oprah was a long term attendee of that same church.
Which reminds me. Where did that Zero Channel wind up?
With zero viewers.
Thanks. Methinks the ever-lyin’ MSM/media has been covering up for OWN.
Look at the up to more than 30% DROP in viewers according to the April 2018 stats.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UoKMMz2UwF0J:https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/tv-show-ratings/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
“Current/latest season’s ratings data, sorted by 18-49 demographic
OWN TV shows 18-49 demo Year-to-year change Viewers (mil) Year-to-year change
….
4 Greenleaf s2 0.37 -40.22% 1.413 -32.98%
8
…..
7 Love Thy Neighbor (ended) s4 0.12 -39.00% 0.459 -29.65%
…..”
Power then blamed those who were frequent critics and opponents of Obama for his lack of action in Syria.
The “Leader of the Free World”, cowering to a few critics.
What an amazing legacy.
Anyone read “A Problem from Hell”? It’s Power’s book and she wrote that officials upset about their government’s inaction on genocide should resign and protest.
It turns out that Power was the greatest empty virtue signaler in US history. 500k Syrians could not be reached for comment.
Plus…..Powers has a face that looks as though she’s MOONING the American Public.
It’s that.
Her book. Her words. Preening and self-serving when politically expedient. Lacking in courage and honor when put into practice. I recall the book. Micheal J. Totten was gushing over her during Obama’s Libya adventure.
Pathetic alleged fiery redhead Irish human rights advocate. Mama Cass shoulda stayed at Swarthnore.
Formally respected blogger and nevertrumper Michael J. Totten, Loved, loved, loved Samantha! He thought Sam a brilliant facet among sullied gems.
Power deflects and lies. Obama’s failure to take action wasn’t the cause of anything, it was a symptom of his Iran appeasement policy. He bought the mullahs’ claim that they had a vital interest in Syria, and Obama backed off.
As long as he prioritized that, any genocide along the way was just “regrettable.”
And Samantha Powers has just thrown Rep. Barbara Lee under the bus, who is criticizing Trump for not consulting Congress before his latest missile strike against Syria.
Where there any actions that required true leadership and fortitude that Obama didn’t shrink from? Other than those things which caused racial unrest, and further political divisions, he was the best friend of many of our enemies, and diminished the US.
The Narcissist in Chief, with the crew of sycophants were looking to destroy this country so it could be rebuilt in their socialist utopia. The damages might be bad enough, and the deep state strong enough that his desires still might come about.
In 2009 Tyrant Obama the Liar promised to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. He did nothing when Russian attacked Ukraine and occupied the Crimea. Tyrant Obama the Liar’s only skill is lying.
Isn’t that why the weasel got the Nobel Prize?
Say….what did the weasel get the Nobel Prize for, anyway?
And how did he become head of the Harvard Law Review with crappy grades?
And how did he get into Harvard with crappy grades at Columbia?
And how did he…. etc etc etc
Obama: The Postmodern Coup – Making of a Manchurian Candidate:
https://www.amazon.com/Obama-Postmodern-Making-Manchurian-Candidate/dp/0930852885
Samantha Power needs to worry more about her gluten-free diet and what cupboard pictures to post on Pinterest. Stfu Samantha, Obama has set you up for life, go away, shoo! 🙂
It appears that Obama’s legacy is intact and growing stronger every day. Obama’s true legacy is that he was the most incompetent, politically inept, and possibly the wort thinker, to ever occupy the Oval Office. He will be remembered as America’s first Affirmative Action President who stayed in power by using the country’s fear of being labeled a racist while he drove the country into the ground.
>
His greatest legacy, however, will be difficult to determine. Many will argue whether is was his unilateral “treaty” with Iran, his outlandish support for ISIS and other terrorist groups, how administration that set the standard for corruption, his refusal to address the economic crisis of 2008 while creating more debt than ever before thus setting up the impending financial crash that could end up destroying the country, or any of several other disasters over which he created and presided.
>
Yes, Obama will be remembered for his legacy just as Stalin, Mao, Chavez and others are remembered for theirs.
Obama’s only mistake was the stupid Red Line In The Sand remark, not deciding to go to Congress for authorization. After all, the PEOPLE of the US have a right to decide which wars we become involved in.
The chemical weapons release in 2013 was more than likely the work of the Government of Syria. Evidence was gathered that chemical artillery shells were used and evidence strongly indicated that they were delivered conventionally [i.e. fired from artillery pieces from a distance]. Though the rebels had captured both Syria Army artillery and chemical munitions, it is extremely unlikely that the rebels would deliver the munitions by artillery fire, rather than detonate them in place. To further complicate the matter, all the victims were Syrian nationals, all were within an area controlled by Syrian rebel groups which were in armed opposition to the legal government and Syria was not a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, at the time.
All of this made it impossible to justify directly attacking Syria over the use of these weapons, without authority of Congress. And, Congress was unlikely to authorize any military attack. The same was true in 2017 and again this year. The American people are not strongly in favor of attacking a country over its internal actions. If such an attack had led to war, especially war with Russia, or even Iran, the political fallout could have been devastating to a number of Congressional careers.