Obama, Congress, and Audience Costs: Shifting the Blame on the Red Line

President Barack Obama entered office vowing to draw down two wars and revive America's image abroad. In light of these assertions, his decision to initiate hostilities against Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011 without congressional authorization took many by surprise. Obama argued the United States had a unique ability to spearhead the operation and a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) the people of Libya. He expressed no qualms about sidestepping Congress, offering only ambivalence about the benefit of-not the need for-congressional support. In Congress, his unilateralism "raised all sorts of hackles" that came to very little. Obama's actions received a "veneer of outrage" followed by "the collective message... of supplication," giving him every reason to assume he could act the same way in the future.