China and Russia Veto U.N. Resolution on Syria

With the U.N. resolution against Syria vetoed by China and Russia, Republican lawmakers in support of Syrian opposition are asking Obama to support them with military supplies. Those leaning President Assad’s way are complaining that Obama didn’t do enough to see the resolution pass.

Senator John McCain criticized Obama for simply watching as the “massacre continues” and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) bemoaned the absence of U.S. leadership in the U.N. vote to begin with. Said Portman, “Now is not the time to lead from  behind.”

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is literally begging the Obama administration to step up to the plate on this matter. Said Graham, “The last thing in the world America needs to do is hide from leadership…I want my country, our country, to stand against the torture and the murder and the slaughter.”

The problem with the U.N. resolution, for China and Russia, is not that it would have authorized a U.N. observer mission to Syria, but that it would have “threatened sanctions against Assad’s government if the bloodshed continued.”