Huh. And here I was thinking that President Obama’s pusillanimous lack of long-term vision just got us outmaneuvered by Vladimir Putin and is making us look like a bunch of indecisive amateurs on the world stage. Via National Review:

JAKE TAPPER: Last question, and a quick answer, if you would, Senator. We’re all happy about a potential path to peace, but do you buy the fact that this was all kind of planned by the administration and floated on purpose, or do you think we kind of just bumbled into a happy possibility?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Yes, I believe in serendipity to a point. But I do believe that the president has been talking to the Russians about this for a number of days at least, and ultimately, there are some pretty smart guys in this administration who I know have been thinking long and hard about every possible way around war. And that’s what the president told us today in our caucus meeting with the Democrats, is that he has no interest in going to war. He has no interest in military strikes if he can find a way out of it. I think that the Obama administration has been thinking in very creative ways for a long time about how to avoid military intervention if possible.

Yes, I’m sure that all of this bumbling and stumbling has really just been a strategic bit of cunning cover for President Obama’s creativity and intelligence on Syria all along. A clever ruse, indeed.