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Obama Has New Sheriff in Sen. John McCain
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 7, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
When
President Barack Obama looks into his crystal ball in the wake of the Nov. 4
takeover of the U.S. Senate, he’ll see the omnipresent face of 78-year-old
political foe Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), soon Chairman of the Senate Armed
Service Committee. While
Washington’s gridlock may not change in the wake of the Democrats’ drubbing Nov.
4, the practical change will be Senate Chairmen on key committees, including
McCain’s powerful Senate Armed Services Committee. Together with Intelligence and
Foreign Relations, Democrats will now take a backseat to the GOP, all critical
of Obama’s foreign policy, especially his handling of Israel, Iran, the Islamic
State of Iraq and Sryia and certainly Ukraine.
Republican Chairmen of key committees can now scrutinize Obama’s actions,
sending more adverse publicity to voters before the 2016 presidential elections.
McCain’s been harshly critical of Barack’s non-intervention in Syria,
especially after reports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons
surfaced April 20, 2013. Obama
promised Aug. 20, 2012 that al-Assad’s chemical weapons use would be a
game-changer or “red line” to trigger possible U.S. military intervention. When a Sept. 17, 2013 U.N. report
confirmed of al-Assad’s chemical weapons, perhaps Sarin, VX or Mustard Gas,
Obama passed the decision to intervene to Congress Aug. 31, 2013, essentially
killing any action. Soon chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain’s going to scrutinize Obama’s
isolationist policy that added to the rise of ISIS. Republicans will no doubt criticize
the president’s Aug. 8 air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, questioning
whether or not air strikes alone can meet Obama’s goal of “destroying ISIS.”
McCain took life-and-limb in hand going against the State Department to
cross the Syrian border May 27, 2013 to meet in with Free Syrian Army’s Brig.
Gen. Salim Idris. He had visited
Syrian rebels with former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) April 10, 2012 to size up
Syrian massacres in stemming from the Syrian civil war begun March 8, 2011. “Look at the world in January 2009
and look at the world today,” said McCain attesting to Obama’s abysmal
mismanagement of U.S. foreign policy.
“We’ve had a rudderless, feckless national security policy and no
strategy,” said McCain, implying Obama’s non-interventionist approach gave rise
of ISIS and emboldened Russia to seize Crime March 1 and invade Ukraine today. New reports of Russian troops
crossing back into Ukraine raise the stakes as the new Congress examines Obama’s
foreign policy in the region.
When McCain takes over Jan. 1, he plans to challenge the GOP’s Tea Party
wing that imposed draconic cuts on the Pentagon known as the “sequester.” “That’s our first priority,” said
McCain, making no bones of his intent to restore full Pentagon funding. With McCain at the helm of the
Senate Armed Forces Committee, Obama will be forced to revise his current
intervention strategy of only air strikes attempting to beat back the ISIS
blitzkrieg capturing 30% of Iraq and Syria.
“I have reached out to this president,” said McCain. “I have tried to work with him, and I have done literally everything I can,” trying to
get Obama to take the ISIS takeover in
Iraq and Syria more seriously.
Though adding an additional 1,500 U.S. advisors in Iraq and Syria, McCain
wants a more coherent strategy, including more U.S. boots on the ground. Where Obama and McCain differ is on
what to do with Bashar al-Assad.
Obama’s reluctance to intervene in Iraq and Syria stemmed from the fact
that he was elected in 2008 to end the Iraq and Afghan wars. Since ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, ISIS’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi pressed ahead during
a power vacuum of U.S. troop withdrawals. McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) plan to pressure Obama to show coherency and purpose to the White House
ISIS war strategy. McCain backs
Graham in a run for president in 2016, despite Graham’s lack of interest. Known as an inveterate bachelor with
little known about his private life, Graham has the right temperament but wrong
social credentials. Neither McCain
nor Graham fit the new Republican Party led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Fl.), both getting high grades from the Tea Party seeking to repeal
Obamacare and other government subsidies and less U.S. foreign intervention.
As titular head of the Democratic Party, Obama must swallow the reality
of losing the U.S. Senate. Whether
admitted to or not, voters spoke loudly that they disliked the country’s
direction. McCain and Graham take
the Nov. 4 mandate too far insisting voters repudiated all of Obama’s policies. With the stock market at record
levels, unemployment at 5.8%, federal budget deficits under $500 billion, over 9
million private sector jobs added since March 2010, oil and pump prices at
recent lows, the GOP can’t argue the economy is not better off under Obama. What McCain and the GOP plan to
argue in the 2016 presidential election is that U.S. foreign policy is in
shambles. With Putin crossing back
into Ukraine and ISIS still holding its own, McCain has a perfect bully pulpit
to indict Democrats and the White House.
Whether or not the GOP follows McCain’s lead, he’ll have a louder voice.
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