Drew Bowling sees some possible silver linings in our Ruling Class’ Mars-Worshipping Contempt…

Drew Bowling sees some possible silver linings in our Ruling Class’ Mars-Worshipping Contempt… September 6, 2013

…for the will of the American people:

Washington is in meltdown, and a radical political realignment is in full force. The situation is grave, but the theatrics are mesmerizing.

Obama and his capering war puppets have twisted themselves into a Gordian Knot of hypocritical nonsense. Liberal interventionists and neoconservative hawks continue to forge their Faustian bargain despite the perdition of popular and bipartisan outrage. John Kerry compares Syria to Normandy as Putin threatens to deploy a protective missile shield over Syria. Possessed by the poltergeist of Paul Wolfowitz, haunted by the specter of Iraq, Kerry argues for purposeless warfare with no coherent plan and inconclusive evidence, even as he declares an anarchic confederation of Islamists and al-Qaeda cells to be a moderate force worthy of American taxpayer aid. But he also claims that America’s military adventurism will be financed by Sunni Arab states, suggesting that our military is a mercenary janissary core up for hire in Middle Eastern religious civil wars. John McCain, meanwhile, plays poker in strategic briefings when not clamoring for more violence, and his sidekick Lindsey Graham remains his reliable lickspittle. Pope Francis, of course, condemns all this, and the right people are rallying to agree. Lets hope there are enough of them to prevent Obama’s unilateral recklessness from metastasizing into a deadly mistake.

Everyone knows it’s amateur hour at the White House and in the offices of those congressmen, especially those veteran lawmakers, who support Obama’s embarrassing but dangerous Syria escapade. It is heartening, however, to watch a strong bipartisan opposition, which one might call the coalition of the sane, forming to resist Obama’s madness. The outcome of the coming Senate and House votes is far from certain, but it is certainly more likely that the House will reject Obama’s plan for a highly combustible war that appears to have neither strategy nor objective.

Three scenarios exist:

1) The vote succeeds despite popular outrage at home and around the world, and Obama goes to war in Syria.

2) The vote fails, restoring some public faith in Congress, and Obama goes to war in Syria anyway, which he said he has the authority to do with or without congressional permission: an action he took without consulting Congress when he triggered American military intervention in Libya’s civil war.

3) The vote fails, and Obama, honoring the will of the representatives his fellow citizens sent to Washington, does not launch his war of choice.

For dozens of important reasons, which I have been discussing over the past two weeks, I strongly hope Scenario 3 comes to pass.

But the significant political question here, understandably secondary in conversations about oncoming war, is the degree to which ANY choice Obama makes will significantly torpedo his credibility, detonate his popularity, and sink the remainder of his presidency.

We know which two scenarios would be worse for America, Syria, and the world. But given that one scenario must take place, which one would be the worst for Obama, who is responsible for the possibilities of all three?

It *could* be that a broad and healthy bipartisan realization is dawning on the electorate that it’s not left vs. right, but our Ruling Class vs. the rest of us. I’m cautiously hopeful. But this is still a massively dangerous moment. Fast and pray tomorrow.


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