MSNBC's Morning Joe panel savaged President Obama's record on Syria Tuesday, with BBC anchor Katty Kay saying it was "in tatters" and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass declaring it "the biggest problem with his foreign policy legacy."
Syrian policy has come to the forefront again in recent weeks with the full-blown refugee crisis brought about by the ruinous civil war there. The Bashar al-Assad regime's cruel actions against their own people and the Obama administration's lack of action, Kay said, had provided a "vacuum" for the Russians to step in and lead the international response to that situation.
Putin has said supporting Assad is the best way to combat the Islamic State terrorist group, while Obama has stuck to the mantra of "Assad must go" in order for there to be a political solution to the disastrous situation in Syria.
"The truth is the Americans don't really have a plan, and what I think the Russian moves over the last couple of weeks have shown is the extent to which the U.S. policy in Syria is in tatters and has been so for several years now," Kay said. "There have been moments over the course of the last four years where the U.S. could have effectively intervened, where it could have imposed no-fly zones, where it could have imposed buffer zones, where it could have used coercion and force to stop President Assad barrel-bombing his own people, which has been a major recruiting tool for ISIS. It didn't do any of those things, and now the Russians are taking that vacuum."
Obama and Putin clashed on the issue Monday with conflicting speeches at the United Nations General Assembly. Syria has been a sore spot for Obama for his entire presidency, culminating in his broken promise in 2013 regarding the "red line" he set if Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. Obama, in the end, did not attack in as he had previously pledged, in spite of Assad clearly crossing that line.
"The United States' credibility has taken a major hit," Haass said. "Probably the most consequential thing the president didn't do in his presidency was follow up on his pledges in Syria to attack the regime after they used chemicals. Now the consequence is not just in Syria, not just in the Middle East, but throughout the world, and this is, in a sense, the biggest problem with his foreign policy legacy, what he hasn't done in this part of the world."