A Win-Win, But Not for Obama

The Obama administration may be mistakenly seeing this "breakthrough" as a win and vindication of its "red line" in the sand strategy with Syria. If Syria does cough up its chemical weapons arsenal, President Obama will expect his supporters and detractors alike to see this as a political victory in his force of wills with Bashar al-Assad (and Iran).

Unfortunately—for him and those who have been pushing the United States into this action with hopes it will help the rebel elements in Syria—this "potentially positive development" will actually expose his game plan as superficial and more of a dead-end than if he had actually launched Tomahawks into Damascus and nothing changed for the better.

If the chemical weapons exeunt stage right and the president does back down—which is not how he'll spin it, of course—that will definitely be a win for Americans who are tired of our "war weary" warrior's bellicose foreign policy and his trampling of the Constitution and it will be a win for Syrians who will not die by cruise missile.

The White House, on the other hand, should not be celebrating too much, however, since everyone will quickly discover that the focus on chemical weapons as a solution has truly been a sham as all see that the death rates in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Daraa continue unabated.