David Ignatius wonders about the panic over Obama
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WASHINGTON -- How did it happen that less than a year after Barack Obama convinc-ingly won re-election, his every move as president now draws hoots and catcalls from nearly every point on the political spectrum?
Perhaps his Syria policy really is a story of "epic incompetence," as Charles Krauthammer opined last week. Maybe he has an "unbelievably small" presidency, as Marc Thiessen commented, or that no one is afraid of him, as Ruth Marcus argued. And that's just a sampling of opinion from my colleagues at The Washington Post.
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What's puzzling about this latest Obama-phobia is that recent developments in Syria have generally been positive from the standpoint of U.S. interests. Obama has accomplished goals that most Americans endorse, given the unpalatable menu of choices.
Polls suggest that the public overwhelmingly backs the course Obama has chosen. Asked in a Washington Post-ABC News survey if they endorsed the U.S.-Russian plan to dis-mantle Syrian chemical weapons as an alternative to missile strikes, 79 percent were sup-portive. Yet elite opinion is sharply negative.
Here's what I see when I deconstruct the Syria story:...
...The mystery is why this outcome in Syria is derided by so many analysts in Washington. Partly, it must be the John McCain factor. The Arizona senator is in danger of becoming a kind of Republican version of Jesse Jackson, who shows up at every international crisis with his own plan for a solution, sometimes through personal mediation (as with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), other times demanding military intervention (as in Syria). Because McCain is a distinguished figure, he commands respect, even when his proposals have no political support at home.
Not so Obama. He can propose what the country wants, and succeed at it, and still get hammered as a failure.
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