Anonymous inside sources to The White House have indicated "the credibility blues" for a strike on Syria have President Obama in a difficult pickle at this time.
A long, thoughtful walk on White House grounds last Friday evening, accompanied by advisors, was reported highly fruitful, leading to new ideas for the strike on Syria. This conferencing occurred right before Mr. Obama's decision to seek approval for the attack from Congress.
Group thinking included mulling on the problem that, with the refusal of the British parliament to support the surgical strike plan, plus absent significant support from the Arab League, in fact, due to the unfortunate development the US must "go it alone," the credibility issue weighs more heavily.
Someone in the group of advisors then pointed out that the problem was not simply a credibility issue for the President himself, but also for the nation.
At this point some attempts were mustered to summarize credibility problems in a large pile:
*the US case for Assad's responsibility for the chemical attack rests on foreign source intel, primarily Israel's Mossad agency, which has some credibility problems itself
*reports from Ghouta, Syria, indicate rebel activity with chemical weapons at the same time (August 21)
*rebels were found responsible for chemical weapons attacks this past March
*Assad had just invited UN inspectors into the region very close to where the attacks took place and besides has been winning the conflict with the rebels
*the rebels are mostly infested with militant jihadi extremists previously the enemy of the US
*UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has warned against an attack as violation of international law
Group dynamics on the White House walk with the President then took a sharp turn toward: delay the strike.
Credibility patching might be possible by urging the Congress to back the President, indicating the President would consider the people's wishes, currently against the strike.
Credibility resurrecting would also be possible by using talking points that an attack on Syria was vital to maintaining US credibility and interests in global affairs more generally.
Enthusiastic support could be garnered for this credibility buttressing from reliable war supporters such as John McCain, Lindsay Graham, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi and others with similar viewpoints.
The President's credibility blues at this point seemed lightened, he himself heartened.
He was heard humming a tune from a blues number, possibly related to whether or not to order a strike: "Sometimes, you've just got to let it go! Let it go!"
Contacting a spokesperson for a White House spokesperson for this important conferencing in the White House gardens has brought the following explanation:
The Obama Administration is very certain and sure of itself on this matter. There is NO credibility problem.
The highest duty of the President is to the American people and what they think.
And no matter what the debate in Congress leads to, Mr. Obama will certainly bear in mind the nation's wishes when he returns from the G-20 summit meetings next week and orders up the attack.
