Barack Obama and public opinion on Syria

There are a number of obvious differences between last week’s vote in Parliament and the forthcoming Congressional vote on Syria. But today when he gave his closing statement at the end of the G20 summit, Barack Obama highlighted another very interesting divergence in the way he is approaching the vote. Asked whether he understood the concerns of members of Congress who will have to vote against the will of their constituents, Obama replied:

‘Now with respect to Congress and how they should respond to constituency concerns, I do consider part of my job to help make the case and to explain to the American people exactly why I think this is the right thing to do. And it’s conceivable that at the end of the day I don’t persuade a majority of the American people that it’s the right thing to do.

‘And then each member of Congress is going to have to decide if I think it’s the right thing to do for America’s national security, and the world’s national security, how do I vote? And you know what, that’s what you’re supposed to do as a member of Congress.