It is true, as Kerry said before the committee, that the president isn’t asking for a declaration of war. By that standard, though, almost no military conflict in American history, from the raids on the Barbary pirates to the intervention in Iraq, has been a “war.”

When you initiate hostilities against another country, when you blow up its buildings and military equipment and kill its officials and military personnel — as will almost certainly happen here — you are committing an act of war. The unwillingness to admit as much speaks to the haze of ambivalence hanging over the proposed Syria strikes that goes to the very top.

President Obama can maintain an ironic detachment from almost everything: his own administration, his own country, and now his own war. In Stockholm, he said, “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.” He further explained, “My credibility’s not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line, and America and Congress’ credibility is on the line.”

You can understand what he’s getting at — there is an international norm against the use of chemical weapons that long pre-dates President Obama, and the country’s credibility is at stake, not just his own — while still marveling at his evasiveness. No one forced Obama to make his red-line warning to Syria; he did it all on his own.