Obama Seeks to Lift Sanctions on Iran Without Congressional Approval: You Didn't See This Coming?

As reported by David Sanger in a New York Times article entitled "Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress";

"No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it."

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Did anyone not see this coming?

Yet, notwithstanding the "red line" he fixed regarding use of chemical weapons against civilians by Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad, Obama chose to avoid having to take action against Assad by turning to Congress for approval.

Yes, I think I am going to be ill.

Destruction of Syria's Chemical Weapons and Obamacare: Both Still on Track?

As might be expected, Syria is not honoring its agreement to destroy its stocks of chemical weapons; however, the West is attempting to make light of the delay. As reported by Al Jazeera (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/syria-misses-deadline-remove-chemical-arms-20141102036154308.html):

"Ships waiting to remove Syria's chemical weapons have returned to port in Cyprus because the country has missed a December 31 deadline.

Syria was supposed to have removed part of its chemical weapons arsenal for destruction on Tuesday, but Wael Nader Al Halqi, Syria's prime minister, said security concerns and bureaucracy had caused delays in transporting the weapons to the Syrian port of Latakia.

International inspectors insisted the overall mission was still on track, as Scandinavian ships continued training exercises off Cyprus in preparation for transporting the toxic cargo. The delay came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 130,000 people had been killed since the conflict began in March 2011, with the overwhelming majority caused by conventional arms."

Bureaucracy caused the delay? Yeah, right.

Just like Obamacare - the president's other signal achievement - the deal for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons is "still on track"? Of course it is.

Kind of reminds you of the words from the song from "Bye Bye Birdie":

And if you're feeling cross and bitterish
Don't sit and whine
Think of banana split and licorice
And you'll feel fine
I knew a girl so glooming
She'd never laugh or sing
She wouldn't listen to me
Now she's a mean old thing
So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
So, put on a happy face

Syria, Chemical Weapons and the President's Warning: Has Obama's "Red Line" Been Crossed?

Some eight months ago, President Obama warned against the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government against its own people. Obama stated (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19319446):

"There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons.

. . . .

A red line for us is [if] we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around, or being utilised. That would change my calculus."

Well, The Times of London is now reporting:

"Forensic evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria has been found for the first time in a soil sample smuggled out of the country in a secret British operation.

Defence sources, who declined to be named, said yesterday that conclusive proof that 'some kind of chemical weapon' had been fired in Syria had been established by scientists at the Ministry of Defence’s chemical and biological research establishment at Porton Down in Wiltshire."

Given that his "red line" has been crossed, will Obama now "change his calculus"?

Why, having watched Obama fail to slow Iran's nuclear weapons development program, do I harbor doubts concerning the readiness of the Procrastinator-in-Chief to take any action whatsoever in Syria, e.g., impose a no-fly zone?