> Obama arguably made the biggest blunder in his political
> career, first by declaring a red line and thus allowing to be
> manipulated in a situation requiring utmost prudence, restraint,
> and flexibility, and second by asking congress to approve his
> meaningless military action in Syria.
I'll take the other side of that bet. At the time it happened, he was being criticised on all three fronts: the crazy McCain front for not doing enough; the obstructionist Boehner front for not doing anything; and the anti-war front for dragging us into another conflict. Now he's made it Congress' call, and they surely will vote to do what he wanted to do in the first place, and by now, a lot more people are bought-in to the "we must send them a lesson" trope. Also, if it takes them long enough to vote, he can say next time "See? My judgement was right, Congress agreed, they just took three weeks longer to get things done than I did!" ...
It might actually be genius on the part of Obama.
> Even if this action goes as planned, it will
> have minimal consequences for the Syrian conflict.
But that was always true :-)
> However, whether it goes as planned or not, it will cost Obama
> dearly. This is almost as bad as the Iran Hostage Crisis for Carter.
I guess we'll see about that, but don't forget: Carter was in his first/last term. Obama doesn't have to worry about something like reelection ...
/jordan