It has been a wild week here in Washington as our elected fools return to determine the Fate of the West, or at least the fate of the Administration. It has been high drama throughout the legislative break as we have lurched from coalition to unilateral action by the Commander-in-Chief, to a sudden reversal to seek consultation with Congress on what may- or may not- be an act of war against Syria.
Surprises, it is said, are best reserved for birthday parties, not global diplomacy, but this has been an exercise in the ad hoc process as the new National Security Team settles into the traces. Susan Rice as National Security Advisor; Samantha Powers as UN Ambassador, and the redoubtable Secretary Kerry as SECSTATE.
I heard two bits of ad-hocery yesterday that were quite striking. There were actually three such moments through the day, but I missed the opening salvo from Secretary Kerry; his overarching and serene confidence in his mastery of policy, coupled with his delight at hearing whatever issues from his mouth led him to outline an impossible contingency in which the impending military action against Syria might be averted.
At Foggy Bottom, his career and political minders had to leap on that rhetorical grenade, saying it was just the specious spewing of impossibilities for which the former Senator was famous throughout his time in that august deliberative chamber. In sum, the impossibility was the demand that Mr. Assad turn over all his chemical weapons to international within the week.
Taken with the Secretary’s comment of the scope of the strike, to wit: “unbelievably small” (.e., “If you do not do what we say we will do something inconsequential!”) one would be hard pressed to take the Secretary seriously. Mr. Kerry obviously somewhat unfamiliar with actually being responsible for anything.
Of all things, the crafty Russians immediately stepped up to call his bluff.
“Why not?” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “Perhaps we can make that happen.”
Then the light-bulb began to come on. Maybe the rhetorical grenade had possibilities? I was driving over to the grocery store when I heard Hillary make a statement about the ultimatum that now appeared to provide a fire-exit from the policy disaster. She sounded assertive, confident, and authoritative. In fact, downright Presidential, though I am uncertain what formal role private citizen Clinton has in this matter of diplomacy.
She did not at all resemble the indecisive bureaucrat of the Benghazi debacle a year ago, but that, along with the other phony scandals has been driven off the public stage, along with the other major national issue, which was the Miley Cyrus twerking incident.
Listening to NPR through the afternoon, I felt the initiative to strip Mr. Assad of his chemical weapons gaining traction. Perhaps this was a way to avoid a disastrous defeat in the House, a means of kicking the can down the road, and an ad hoc exit from the perilous brinksmanship that could have cascaded war across the region.
I liked it. As you know, I have been supporting the President on this one, though not with much enthusiasm. I began turning the matter over in my mind as I walked to the Panzer. I had the satellite radio tuned to Fox, which I enjoy listening to while in motion. I was surprised to hear that Chris Wallace, renegade neo-con was permitted access to the President himself.
Then Chris Wallace grilled Mr. Obama, but I swear you could hear the relief in the President’s voice as he swatted away the barbs and implied that he and Mr. Putin had actually been working the matter at the G20 meeting in St. Petersburg.
True or not, I could tell that the President now has a fire exit from improvisation. Finally, a way out of this mess, a way to kick the can down the road, pretend the bellicose posturing had driven the Russians and Syrians into accepting something that costs the Kremlin nothing, and keeps Assad firmly in power.
Since I do not like either side in the conflict, and view the WMD as a continuing problem regardless of who has them, I will be interested in seeing if anyone actually gives anything up- but I wonder what Mr. Putin will ask for his payment in providing the exit?
Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303