The new America's greatly improved new Obama on Syria

Those of us who want to leave the Muslim countries alone to dig their own graves, without any help from the West, not even  in supplying the coffins...will like this.  I sure did. Now, here's hoping Obama keeps his word and remains firm in spite of the intensity of the lobbying from all the "known knowns" as well as the "known unknowns"  and the "unknown unknowns".

Paul Richter and Patrick J. McDonnell writing at LATimes
...President Obama on Wednesday   praised a new Syrian opposition coalition as "a legitimate representative of the Syrian people" but pointedly said Washington was not yet prepared to recognize the group as a government in exile or provide arms to antigovernment rebels.

The president, drawing a tight boundary around the U.S. role in Syria, also repeated warnings about the presence of "extremist elements" within the fragmented ranks of Syrian armed rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

In his first remarks on Syria since his reelection, Obama gave no sign that his administration was reconsidering its generally cautious stance on the conflict. That position apparently is being maintained despite pressure from within the United States and from allies such as Turkey and Persian Gulf states to offer more robust support, including heavy arms, to Syrian opposition forces.

The president's comments squelched, at least for now, speculation that the White House — which has called on Assad to resign — would move more aggressively on Syria once the election was over.....