President Obama is betting the house, the white house, that Congress and citizens will support him in Syria.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to images like the ones we've seen out of Syria," the president said.
By now, we've all seen the images, but they have not made us see Syria the way the president does.
In a poll out today, 55 percent oppose striking Syria, even if congress approves military action. The president cannot use his popularity to convince us put all the polls together and 52 percent of Americans disapprove of his job performance, his highest disapproval number he's ever had.
"This is hard. And I was under no illusions when I, when I embarked on this path. But I think it's the right thing to do,” Obama said.
The President has made Secretary of State John Kerry his spokesman in chief on Syria.
"This crosses an international, global red line," Kerry said.
Kerry, who made his name in politics as a veteran against Vietnam, is now pounding the drums of war louder than anyone else in Washington.
"This is humanitarian catastrophe of global proportions and the world needs to focus on it or we give license to other dictators or other groups in other parts of the world to engage in similar behavior and just make things worse for everybody," Kerry said.
Do something or do nothing, that's what we're told our choice is in Syria.
But that may be a false choice.
What if we do something, but nothing changes?
Then our choices will be even worse.