Nate Silver looks at the CNN polling numbers and tentatively concludes an abnormal lack of American jingoism (that's good) and a weariness of our Afghanistan entanglement (that's good) and
this is a bit of an educated guess, but I suspect that Mr. Obama is more susceptible to a decline in support from liberals and Democrats on this question than he is likely to benefit from an increase in support among Republicans and conservatives. Reactions from prominent left-leaning bloggers and editors, like Josh Marshall, have been cautious — but generally skeptical and pessimistic. Some liberals, also, are not opposed to the action in Libya per se, but dislike the fact that Mr. Obama did not consult Congress before agreeing to participate in the allied action
and that's only par for the course.
I'm sympathetic to liberal objections on this, but let's do face reality: Congress would still be debating whether we should take Richmond if Lincoln had not taken the helm. The House? It's swarming with counterfeit "constitutionalists" whose principal mission is to retire not the debt but Obama, and the Senate can agree only on extended vacations -- so that the senators can campaign back home and tell their constituents why those other fools can't ever agree on anything.
A presidential act of dumping a UN resolution on Libya in their laps while critical hours ticked off the clock would have predetermined the act's outcome: nothingness.
Now perhaps that would have been wise and good. I don't know. But, if you were president and genuinely believed that time, as they say, was of the absolute essence, would you have left the matter to Congress? This Congress?
I return to the issue of trust. And this, of course, is where things get dicey. I trust Obama to do the right thing because his moderation and intelligence have shown he's trustworthy. George W. Bush never -- ever -- demonstrated those attributes, thus I was horrified when Congress permitted him his cowboyish ways, in so many arenas. But someday, most likely, we'll again be orphaned to the thoughtless vagaries of another George W., and then I'll be arguing for -- indeeed, demanding -- Congressional oversight, every step of the way.
Just consider this a kind of pre-hypocrisy alert.