President Obama is finding himself in an increasingly isolated position after almost a week of aggressively lobbying the international community, Congress, and the American people to back military intervention in Syria. The more his administration presses its case, the less support Obama seems to be gaining
"President Obama's Syria policy may be confusing, but it's all the more so because it seems so unlike the president of the past five years, a man who built his reputation on caution and consensus now seems ready to throw caution to the wind and go it alone," MSNBC host Alex Wagner said Friday.
Presidential historian Prof. Douglas Brinkley characterized the president's performance as that of a reluctant leader rather than a reluctant warrior: "...he's talking about a heavy lifting, and you're not feeling the heavy lifting. You're feeling woe is me, I'm exhausted and tired."
"We've got two Obama's here," MSNBC editor Richard Wolfe agreed on NOW w/ Alex Wagner Friday, "We've got the guy who was rushing to war saying 'we're going to do this, I've made my decision, and I don't care if people are with me or not, and then the hauling back and saying, 'actually, no...'"
Congress will take up the authorization of force when it returns next week, but President Obama will require what Brinkley characterized as a "herculean, historical sales job" to an increasingly skeptical audience.