Does anyone here really think that President Obama would have submitted the Syria

[HardTimes99]

11. I agree with your general point and principles but I have to take issue with your

use of Truman and Korea as your example. IIRC, Korea was a U.N. operation and only happened b/c the Soviet Union walked out of the Security Council meeting where the matter was under debate, thereby allowing a duly-constituted quorum of Security Council members to authorize military intervention.

Congress did not exercise its power of the purse to block U.S. involvement in Korea but public opinion turned so sharply against the situation there that Truman decided not to run for a third term (even though the amendment restricting presidents to two terms only did not apply to Truman, who could have escaped its strictures had he so chose, b/c it did not pass until he was already president).

I think the problem began with Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that gave LBJ a seeming blank check. Interestingly, public opinion also caused LBJ to decide not to seek re-election.