If this is correct, then in the event of a battle in the East China Sea, Obama’s first reaction may not be to provide immediate military assistance. Instead, the president will request an authorization from Congress.

Will this authorization be forthcoming? Based on the prior resolution, the answer appears to be yes. It is useful to recall that, at first, it seemed likely that Congress would support Obama’s call to use force in Syria. After all, both Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner supported this action. It was only after Congress and the public began paying attention to what was actually happening in Syria that it became clear that the votes were not there.

Of course one cannot directly compare Syria and Japan. In Syria, the U.S. was not sure whether it had friends on either side of the conflict. More importantly, no treaty obligations were involved. Still, as it was with in Syria, the U.S. public knows very little about the islands that are the subject of so much debate between Japan and China. In the event that open hostilities break out over the islands, this will quickly change. How will constituent phone calls and e-mails trend when voters learn that the U.S. government’s position is that it takes no position on which country has the more valid claim to the islands? Will the public support risking World War III (that is undoubtedly how it will be portrayed by those opposing action) to defend territory whose ultimate owner, according to the U.S. government, is in dispute?