Obama’s Speech Changes No Minds in Congress

Obama’s Speech Changes No Minds in Congress

Sen. Levin Warns Against Public Opposition Stopping Syria War

by Jason Ditz, September 11, 2013

Sen. Carl Levin (D – MI) has today warned against the overwhelming public opposition to a US attack on Syria actually stopping them from approving the war, saying Congress has to threaten to attack Syria in some form in a future resolution.

Levin’s comments echoed those of other hawks, but the reality is that public opinion is driving the votes, especially in the House, and his position has lost. Congress will not approve a war on Syria.

President Obama’s Tuesday night speech was supposed to be the decisive case for war, and it too has failed, with nary an opponent of the war swayed by the comments, even if they reinforced the position of the few hawks out there like Levin.

This week was to be the war party’s great victory, turning the tide of a war weary public as AIPAC threw its weight behind the war to ensure Congressional support. Ultimately, all of that has only increased public opposition to the war, and the defeat of the resolution in Congress is more apparent than ever, assuming the hawks ever bother to even attempt a vote. Six more Senators are now “no” votes, and four more in the House just since the speech, suggesting the momentum continues, but against the war.

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/09/11/obamas-speech-changes-no-minds-in-congress/

Levin: Public opinion can’t guide decision on striking Syria's Assad

By Jeremy Herb - 09/11/13 11:28 AM ET

Lawmakers should not be looking to the polls to shape their views on military action in Syria, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Wednesday.

Levin pushed back against lawmakers who have said they can't support military strikes due to overwhelming public opposition, arguing that polls should not be a factor in the decision.

Levin, who supports military action in Syria, cited his vote against the war in Iraq in 2002, when public opinion was on the side of authorizing military force.

“I just don’t think you can be guided, when it comes to this kind of an issue, by public opinion polls,” Levin said at a breakfast with reporters Wednesday.

On Syria, public opinion has squarely sided against President Obama in the past week, as the public remains war weary after a decade of conflict in the Middle East.

Obama’s inability to turn around public opinion also set many lawmakers against military action, making the odds long that Obama would win a vote to authorize force.

That vote is now on hold, but Levin said that he still wants to see Congress move toward a vote on an alternate Syria resolution that would tie diplomatic options to the threat of military strikes.

Asked about the timing of the vote, Levin said it was too soon to say because the new language had not been drafted.

It would also depend on whether the votes were there to pass the resolution.

“The last thing you want to do is remove that pressure. You can’t have language that’s going to lose because at that point there’s less pressure for [Syrian President Bashar] Assad," Levin said. 

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/321603-levin-public-opinion-cant-guide-foreign-policy-decisions#ixzz2eearkpjy 
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