President Obama is really gonna have to do a sales job on Tuesday when he speaks to the nation about Syria, and isn’t that ironic? A man who ran in 2008 in part on his not voting for that Middle East disaster called the Iraq War will now try to sell the people who voted for him because of his no vote that “this time is different.”

He’s got a tough row to hoe.

Lawmakers cite overwhelming opposition from their constituents, and early whip counts reveal large numbers of lawmakers who are deeply skeptical of military action. At least two Republicans who initially supported the call for intervening — Reps. Mike Coffman (CO) and Michael Grimm (NY) — backed away late this week. Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) on Friday became the first member of congressional leadership to say he’s leaning against military action.

Good. I’m as horrified by Assad’s gassing his own citizens as anyone, but I can’t see what good a bunch of cruise missiles landing on his military assets would do. No person or country in the Middle East trusts us now, and I can’t see how blowing even more people and stuff up there after the past ten years of doing so will change that.

Enough, Mr. President. This is supposed to be the UN’s job. If it can’t do it because of a veto by Syria’s patron, well, that’s a flaw in the way the UN Security Council was designed. The United States shouldn’t act unilaterally.