General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Caught on video: Horrifying proof that Libya's freedom fighters have turned into brutal torturers [View all]joshcryer
(62,536 posts)Must be very muddled memory, because he never held the position that he ever "opposed it" (your words). In Libya Obama did attempt diplomacy, even as Gaddafi was making speeches about cleansing the country of its "rats." It wasn't until a whole month later that action was done.
Obama was fully consistent on this policy, there was no "change of mind."
As far as power is concerned, I believe Obama's original position was naive, and it sold well to those who ignorantly believed he was a populist, so it worked out for him, his own naivety. Bush got the Presidential position to have enormous military powers (see: targeted killing, which Obama has taken to extremes no one had ever conceived), and unfortunately in the history of the United States no President has ever not used those powers when they wanted to. No President. None. Power corrupts.