Some 140 members of the House (if not more by now) have written to the President demanding that he get written approval from Congress before firing missiles at Syria. Good. I say that for two reasons: one, Congress asserting its power to declare war rather than running and hiding is probably a good thing for America’s democracy, and two, once they’ve voted up or down, they have ownership of the decision just as much as the President.

See item #6 from Jim Fallows of The Atlantic here.

Make the case to Congress. In case that is not clear enough, MAKE THE CASE TO CONGRESS, AND MAKE THEM VOTE.

[snip]

Since there is no reason to rush, the President has everything to gain by formally involving the legislative branch.

Everything to gain? Yes, everything. Something about this undertaking will go wrong, even if overall it succeeds. People will die; blunders will occur; fingers will be pointed (Benghazi); investigations and denunciatory speeches will ensure. Since all choices about Syria are bad, force the Congress to face those choices. Make them share the responsibility. Obama the citizen/scholar would understand why this is wise. Obama the politician presumably does as well.

What if Congress votes it down? Then they vote it down — and we shouldn’t attack. This is how a democratic republic is supposed to work. If an Administration cannot convince the public and their representatives that we should use military force, then we shouldn’t use it.

I’m not sanguine about that. I’d prefer Assad be deposed, no more civilians die and the two million refugees be allowed to go back home safely. I don’t think even a barrage of 100 cruise missiles is going to knock the man off his throne. I really think delivering those missiles is as much to make us (the political class and its friends in the press) feel good about ourselves. “See,” they can say. “We’re good people. We tried hard to save civilians. I guess we showed that bastard Assad.”

Once he gets through ducking (and we’ve telegraphed that we’re going to do this, so he’s not sleeping in the same place twice in a week) he’ll go right back to doing whatever he has to do to keep himself, his family and his tribe alive and safe from the thousands of people who would love to see him dead.

I do think making Congress take a vote is a good idea, though.