Barack Obama’s Hardships

Public skepticism has reached Congress.

It would be a matter of days, Obama promised, justifying U.S. intervention in Libya by saying, “We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi — a city nearly the size of Charlotte (N.C.) — could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”

Almost 90 days after Obama’s statements, we know that both assessments were mistaken. An end to the Tripoli regime, the latest allied goal in Libya, is nowhere in sight. Even the humanitarian aspect has become questionable, especially against the backdrop of Syria, where massacre is more than just potential; it’s an everyday occurrence in which the allies hesitate to intervene.

Right from the start, there had been major skepticism and incomprehension about U.S. involvement in Libya that extended from the general public to the upper echelons of the Pentagon. Now the doubters control the House of Representatives and will keep the courts busy from this point onward. The war in Libya has developed into a conflict in the United States. It is a conflict in which Obama faces a growing front of critics that includes not only Republicans, but members of his own party as well.

Of course, it should be noted that many Republicans who have now come out as war critics and defenders of the “War Powers Resolution” were the same Republicans who were the most vocal in demanding the United States bomb Gadhafi back in March.

Nevertheless, this conflict between the White House and Congress shouldn’t be underestimated. This president cannot be measured against the standards of his predecessor: Obama promised he would end the Iraq war as he campaigned for office. He said he would seek congressional approval before ever deciding to go to war again. And – last but not least – he is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.