Which brings us back to what Obama was thinking. His foreign policy is based on the premise he can be as interventionist as he wants provided he does not put American boots on the ground. The unpopularity of American casualties seems to have been his only takeaway from Iraq.
As far as domestic politics is concerned, he is probably right. After the president’s unconstitutional war in Libya, the country remains a hellhole where they kill our diplomats and steal our weapons. But even after Benghazi, Libya did not do to Obama’s presidency what Iraq deservedly did to Bush’s.
But just because preventive war and regime change can be done on the cheap from the air doesn’t mean there aren’t still unintended consequences. Obama thought he would be able to lob a few cruise missiles at Syria, mumble about red lines in the Rose Garden and then call it a day.
Not so.
When Bob Dole groused at the 1976 vice presidential debate about “Democrat wars,” it was seen as a gaffe. But maybe the old man had a point.
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