The Obama administration is undoubtedly glad to have its media cheerleaders focus on allegations of Russian hacking in the presidential election this week.
Otherwise, much more of a light may have been thrown on the administration’s utter failure in Syria, where rebel-held Aleppo fell and where homeless refugees are likely to be on the rise.
President Barack Obama had a chance as far back as four years ago to do the right thing when he declared Syrian President Bashar Assad could not cross the “red line” of using chemical weapons on his own people. But Assad did just that, and Obama let it go.
That virtually would be the president’s policy regarding the country’s civil war for the rest of his term.
Obama had the opportunity to help arm moderate rebels opposing Assad in 2013, but he would not. He could have exercised a number of options offered by his generals for a tougher response, but he would not. He had the chance to re-engage when Iran got involved and then Russia swooped in to help Assad in 2015, but he would not.