President Obama on Tuesday night implored the American public to tell Congress to keep pressure on Syria over its chemical weapons, while the United States seeks a diplomatic alternative to taking military action.
“I’ve spoken to the leaders of two of our closest allies -- France and the United Kingdom -- and we will work together in consultation with Russia and China to put forward a resolution at the U.N. Security Council requiring Bashar al-Assad to give up his chemical weapons and to ultimately destroy them under international control,” Obama said during a televised speech at the White House.
The prospect of entering into another Middle Eastern war—after Afghanistan and Iraq—has proven unpopular with voters and many Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Obama tried to jumpstart the rationale for staying engaged with the world, instead of retreating from responsibilities that emerged after the horrors of the World Wars.
Did he change public opinion with his argument for a limited airstrike? Or did the complexity of addressing the civil war in Syria only reinforce an emerging sense among voters that the United States should step back from the world?
Watch the president’s speech here:
