See, you can't have it both ways. Intention is everything. They walked it back. You yourself just said it was a gaff. Fumbling about, falling ass backward into success in spite of yourself shows neither strength nor leadership.
To frame it as such is nothing more than
:spin:
But there are fools who'll believe it...
I called it a gaff only because as we both know Kerry was speaking boldly and frankly but without the consent of the President. Thus, he went off script. Frankly, I don't think even he suspected Russia would take him seriously and make the recommendation to Syria with any expectation that Assad would accept. This is why I said "Kerry's gaff will turn out to be a smart bold suggestion" not move because his suggestion wasn't meant to be serious. It was just him bolstering.
And of course the President walked back Kerry's suggestion. As I said, not even he believed the Russians would take the recommendation to Assad with any expectation he'd accept. Of course, as you've pointed out and I fully agree if the President were thinking clearly on the matter he'd have saw this as a diplomatic opportunity to resolve the matter peacefully. Of course, here is where the Right-Wing hardliners completely forget (or ignore) how this "turning over WMD to the international community led by U.N. weapons inspectors" didn't quite work out oh, about 10 years ago w/Saddam Hussein. (Hence, the very real reason Assad happens to now have chemical weapons. Hint, Hint!!) So, my guess is President Obama is looking at this from a prism of not too distant history:
1) An untrustworthy liaison to Syria that is Vladamer Putin; but moreover (and, thus, the real kicker),
2) An untrustworthy foreign government who like its neighbor also once promised to give up its WMDs.
I understand how people are trying to play this, i.e., oh, President Obama isn't so smart, etc., etc., but I'm not so sure that in those first 24 hours I'd have been too keen on taking a "wait and see" approach either (referring to waiting to see if Putin would actually talk to Assad and convince him to accept such a proposal).
We all have the benefit of hindsight. But as I've often said, we, Americans, have short-term memories when it comes to political affairs which only gets shorter the more partisan we become. We forget (or ignore) the errors "our side" made but are quick to pounce on the other side when they do so something wrong or you don't agree with. It has everything to do with not wanting to see anything positive come from "their guy" but accept on blind faith what "our guy" did...or didn't do...or failed to do...or could have done better...blah, blah, blah.
