On her Friday MSNBC program, host Andrea Mitchell tried to ease the
concerns of Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee and other members of
Congress calling for a congressional vote on military action in Syria: "Barack
Obama, as you know better than I do, was one of the leading Democratic
politicians against the Iraq War. So if he says that this is different,
that the evidence is there....does that persuade you since he has always
come at this from a very cautious anti-war perspective?" [Listen to the audio [1]]
Accepting the odd juxtaposition of the President launching missile
strikes from an "anti-war perspective," Lee responded: "And I'm very
pleased that the President has come at this in a very cautious
manner....But also that has nothing to do with our constitutional
responsibility as members of Congress, Andrea."
Lee further explained:
There are members who would vote for this. There are members who may not vote for it. The point is, we should engage in a discussion and a full public debate and talk about what the unintended and intended consequences could or should be, and in fact, what the regional implications are and what the engagement of our military hardware, and some military forces, could be.
She concluded: "I trust the President that he is not going to send
boots on the ground. I know that he does not want to engage this country
in another long-term, open-ended war. We get that. But that has nothing
do with members of Congress representing the people in our country..."
An NBC News poll [2]
released Friday showed that 79% of Americans want President Obama to
get congressional approval before taking any military action against
Syria.
Here is a transcript of the August 30 exchange:
1:39PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Members of both parties are complaining that the President has not adequately consulted Congress before moving toward military action. Some want even more, 54 House members led by California Democrat Barbara Lee have written to Mr. Obama asking for a full congressional debate and approval prior to committing U.S. forces to action. Congresswoman Lee joins me now from Berkeley.
(...)
1:42PM
MITCHELL: Barack Obama, as you know better than I do, was one of the leading Democratic politicians against the Iraq War. So if he says that this is different, that the evidence is there, that no one's disputing that chemicals were used, and that they have the evidence linking it to the Assad regime, does that persuade you since he has always come at this from a very cautious anti-war perspective?
BARBARA LEE: And I'm very pleased that the President has come at this in a very cautious manner. The Secretary [of State] said this was not Iraq, this was not Libya, this is not Afghanistan. But also that has nothing to do with our constitutional responsibility as members of Congress, Andrea. There are members who would vote for this. There are members who may not vote for it. The point is, we should engage in a discussion and a full public debate and talk about what the unintended and intended consequences could or should be, and in fact, what the regional implications are and what the engagement of our military hardware, and some military forces, could be.
I trust the President that he is not going to send boots on the ground. I know that he does not want to engage this country in another long-term, open-ended war. We get that. But that has nothing do with members of Congress representing the people in our country who would like to engage in this debate and cast a vote on their behalf. That's our constitutional and our legal requirement.
MITCHELL: Thank you very much, Barbara Lee.
