Sen. John McCain
Wednesday night, President Obama
announced plans to expand airstrikes against ISIL/ISIS into Syria, deploy 475 troops to Iraq to support and train Iraqi and Kurdish forces, and expand aid to the Syrian opposition. Democrats have for the most part
responded by asking for more details and, in some cases, emphasizing the need for a congressional authorization vote.
As for Republicans, with the president they're committed to criticizing at all times calling for expanded military action, what's left but to criticize him for not calling for enough military action? This is right in Sen. John McCain's wheelhouse:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “the president really doesn’t have a grasp for how serious the threat from ISIS is” on CNN.
“The President’s plan will likely be insufficient to destroy ISIS, which is the world’s largest, richest terrorist army,” McCain said in a subsequent statement with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
The answer is always more war—no matter how much the president escalates, McCain will always be out there saying it's not enough, and positioning himself as the expert of experts, despite his
impressive history of being wrong on foreign policy.
House Speaker John Boehner, too, essentially complained that Obama isn't moving toward actual war decisively enough:
It is also a cause for concern that the president appears to view the effort against ISIL as an isolated counterterrorism campaign, rather than as what it must be: an all-out effort to destroy an enemy that has declared a holy war against America and the principles for which we stand.
Of course, as long as Republicans are objecting to
something about Obama's plans, they can
stick with the path Rep. Jack Kingston recently explained: "Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long."