[Hoover Institute] The many apparent turns, nuances, and shifts in the administration's Syria policy-for instance, repeated promises of enhanced military aid to the rebels, the red line drawn over Assad's use of chemical weapons, the threat to strike regime targets after Assad used his unconventional arsenal, and the decision not to-were parts of a messaging campaign intended to further protect Obama's steel-like determination to stay out of the Syrian conflict no matter what. Regardless of what one may think of his policy, the fact that Obama deflected every argument, entreaty, enticement, and forecast of impending doom to preserve that policy cannot fail to impress. However, history offers conflicting evidence as to whether single-mindedness and obstinacy are necessarily desirable character traits in a man whose job also requires flexibility, the willingness to listen to seasoned advisers, and the ability to change course-in short, the practical talent of democratic politics.
He owns his decisions on the Syrian conflict so singly and so starkly that perhaps the judgment on his policy can only be equally absolute: either he was right and kept the United States clear of a prolonged conflict in Syria and built the foundations of a new Middle East; or he was wrong and in ruining Washington's decades-long position in the region ushered in an era of instability whose ripples will reach far past the Persian Gulf littoral and affect all the world.
Great. Just great.