FOXNews.com: No minds changed by Syria speech but Obama's message is loud and clear

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No minds changed by Syria speech but Obama's message is loud and clear Sep 11th 2013, 02:17 Bottom line: I don't think the president changed any minds Tuesday night. And I don't think he intended to. President Obama didn't make the case Tuesday night that a military strike would have any consequential impact on degrading the chemical weapons the Syrians have now acknowledged exist.  And he didn't make a specific case about what a military strike would achieve beyond speaking in generalities about the arguably serious need to retaliate in kind for the chemical attack that occurred on August 21st. But I don't think that either of those points were ultimately the main message of the speech. The main message was for President Obama to make clear that he does not want to bomb Syria if he can avoid it. And he is hoping that his own efforts, and those of Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow on Thursday, will delay, diffuse, and otherwise remove the threat of chemical weapons in Syria. The main message President Obama wanted to deliver to the nation Tuesday night was to make clear that he does not want to bomb Syria if he can avoid it. In his speech Tuesday night, Obama avoided discussing the practical issues involved in finding the chemical weapons, even if there are international inspectors involved. Or, more to the point, how they will get to those sites given that there is a civil war going on. Put another way, I don't believe the president changed any minds or moved any Americans Tuesday night.  But I do believe that he did something which, for him, is arguably as important. The president was able to fundamentally change the dialogue from one that was threatening his presidency.  The process of going to Congress with his resolution, which was most certainly going to be defeated, having it defeated and then having to make the unpalatable decision of either standing down because of congressional opposition or going forward on his own surely does not represent a option the president would want to take. It follows that the president knew his political position was untenable. And the offer that has now come from the Syrians and the Russians in response to John Kerry's off-the-cuff comment in London, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's public encouragement of that option Monday, is such that the president is hoping against hope that he can trust a Russian government and a Syrian government who have shown to be untrustworthy at best and murderous at worst. Douglas E. Schoen has served as a pollster for President Bill Clinton and is currently working with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has more than 30 years experience as a pollster and political consultant. He is also a Fox News contributor and co-host of "Fox News Insiders" Sundays on Fox News Channel and Mondays at 10:30 am ET on FoxNews.com Live. He is the author of ten books including,"Hopelessly Divided: The New Crisis in American Politics and What it Means for 2012 and Beyond" (Rowman and Littlefield 2012). Follow Doug on Twitter @DouglasESchoen.

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