Senator John McCain and Representative Matt Salmon agree that President Obama’s speech fell short but for very different reasons.
The President addressed the country from the White House’s East Room. He said the U.S. would discuss the diplomatic option with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and asked the U.S. Senate to put off a vote on his request for an authorization of military force to let the diplomacy play out.
Salmon, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said Obama had a “prime opportunity to convince Americans why they should support his plan on Syria. Instead, Americans are left with more confusion and more questions that remain unanswered on what he hopes to accomplish. At a time when the leader of the free world should be leading the charge to build coalitions of other nations, this Administration has sadly exported the duties of diplomacy to Russian President Vladmir Putin. After tonight’s speech, I remain opposed to military intervention in Syria, and I remain disheartened by the lack of leadership coming from this White House.”
McCain, a staunch proponent of intervention, weighed in on the president’s speech with Senator Lindsey Graham, saying that they regretted that Obama “did not speak more forcefully about the need to increase our military assistance to moderate opposition forces in Syria, such as the Free Syrian Army,” said the pair. “We also regret that he did not lay out a clearer plan to test the seriousness of the Russian and Syrian proposal to transfer the Assad regime’s chemical weapons to international custody.
“Such a plan would require the United States, together with our friends and allies, to immediately introduce a tough U.N. Security Council Resolution that lays out what steps Syria would have to take to give up its chemical weapons, including making a full and accurate declaration of all of its chemical weapons and granting international monitors unfettered access to all sites in Syria that possess these weapons. This Resolution would have to threaten serious consequences if the Assad regime does not comply, and it would have to be presented to the Security Council for an up or down vote. We would expect Russia and China to support such a Resolution without delay.”