Obama says he might lose congressional vote on Syria
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama conceded Monday night he might lose his fight for congressional support of a military strike against Syria, and declined to say what he would do if lawmakers reject his call to back retaliation for a chemical weapons attack last month.
“I think it’s fair to say that I haven’t decided” on a next step if Congress turns its back, the president said in an NBC interview, one of six he granted during the day as part of a lobbying campaign aimed at winning support from lawmakers as well as the public.
The president sought to use a glimmer of a possible diplomatic solution — including vaguely encouraging statements by Russian and Syrian officials on Monday — as fresh reason for Congress to back his plan. Syria welcomed a proposal to turn over all of its chemical weapons to international control, but the Obama administration has voiced skepticism about the regime’s intentions.
Speaking of the government of Bashar Assad, he said the credible threat of a military strike led by the United States “has given them pause and makes them consider whether or not they could make this move” to surrender control of their chemical weapons stockpile.
Lobbying Congress
Classified briefings for lawmakers just back from vacation, the public release of videos of men, women and children writhing in agony from the evident effects of chemical gas, and a half-dozen network news interviews featuring Obama were folded into the White House bid to avert a defeat. Obama met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus during the day, and arranged a trip to the Capitol as well as a prime time speech from the White House on Tuesday.
The president picked up a smattering of support but also suffered a reversal when Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican, announced he had switched from a backer of military action to an opponent.
“They’re in tough shape. It is getting late,” said Republican Rep. Peter King after he and other lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting with administration officials. King favors the legislation that Obama wants, but he said the president didn’t need to seek it and now must show that a strike “is in America’s national security interest.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a statement of support for the president’s request.
“Today, many Americans say that these atrocities are none of our business, that they’re not our concern,” the Democrat said of Assad’s alleged gassing of civilians on Aug. 21. “I disagree. Any time the powerful turn such weapons of terror and destruction against the powerless, it is our business.”
Others came down on the other side of the question.
“I will vote ‘no’ because of too much uncertainly about what comes next,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican.