It was only after it became clear to Obama that he could not win acceptance in other, preferred, circles that he chose to go to Congress. Would he have sought congressional authorization if he had won United Nations approval for a Syrian attack? Highly unlikely. Would he have sought congressional authorization if the British Parliament had voted to join Obama’s action? Also unlikely. Even approval from the Arab League might have been enough for Obama to act.

As it turned out, Obama achieved none of those goals and decided to seek congressional approval only after failing to win the international acceptance that apparently ranked higher on his list. “Mr. Obama made no secret to aides he felt uncomfortable acting without UN Security Council backing,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Current and former officials said his decision reflected his concerns about being seen as acting unilaterally — without political cover from Congress and without the UK at his side. Arab states, for their part, have offered little public support despite their private encouragement.”