Some political analysts see a benefit for Obama in shifting the election from economic issues to foreign policy.

“Anything that distracts [presumptive Republican nominee Mitt] Romney from his focus on jobs and the economy — particularly if it is an issue area where the president has an automatic advantage, such as foreign policy — is helpful for President Obama’s re-election campaign,” Stu Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report told TheDC…

Other analysts and foreign policy experts were less sure that intervening in Syria would benefit the president, pointing to the Libyan intervention as evidence. Though the Libyan intervention was successful in preventing threatened massacres and at ultimately deposing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi without the loss of American lives and at limited financial cost, it was still unpopular with the American people. A CBS News poll taken shortly after NATO operations ended in November 2011 found that 49 percent of respondents believed the U.S should not have gotten involved, while only 37 percent said the U.S. did the right thing.