And “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.”
How can he say these things with a straight face when the world (with the exception of always stout-hearted France) is not with him?
“President Obama: America’s credibility on the line in Syria,” by Jennifer Epstein for Politico, September 4 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):
President Barack Obama warned Wednesday that the international community”s credibility “” though not his “” is at risk if there’s no response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, though he expects Congress to agree to take military action against Bashar Assad’s regime.
“My credibility is not on the line. The international community”s credibility is on the line,” Obama said at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden. “And America and Congress”s credibility is on the line.”
Obama’s comments came during a joint appearance with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, ahead of his brief trip to the G20 summit in Russia, where he’s expected to continue pushing for international support for intervention in Syria, even with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who remains allied with Assad….
Though the “red line” Obama first spoke of more than a year ago has been cast as a standard that he set “” and that is forcing him to act “” the president insisted it wasn’t his own construct but a clear international standard. “That’s not something I just made up. I didn’t pluck it out of thin air,” he said. “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.”