Obama intensifies PR campaign on Syria with interviews, speeches

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Obama intensifies PR campaign on Syria with interviews, speeches

(Xinhua) 12:54, September 08, 2013

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 -- Facing opposition from some lawmakers and a skeptical public, President Barack Obama is intensifying an effort to swing the public opinion on his plan to attack Syria, with planned TV interviews and a major speech to the public next week.

TV INTERVIEWS, MAJOR PUBLIC SPEECH PLANNED NEXT WEEK

Obama, who just returned Friday night from the G20 summit in Russia, will tape his interviews with anchors of ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and Fox News, according to the White House.

Those networks will air the interviews on Monday night ahead of a planned televised speech to the nation that Obama will make from the White House on Tuesday, in another push to win support for his military plan on Syria.

On Tuesday, Obama is scheduled to make a televised speech to the nation from the White House, to make the his case of taking military action on Syria.

Obama is eager to persuade Americans to support his plan to "punish" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for perpetrating the alleged chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 outside Damascus, which the U.S. claims killed 1,429 people including 426 children. Damascus has vehemently rejected these accusations.

Obama announced on Aug. 31 that he decided to launch a limited military strike against Syria to hold al-Assad accountable for the attack, but he would first seek Congress' authorization on the use of force.

However, Obama is facing an uphill battle in Congress as public opinion polls have repeatedly shown that most Americans are against military intervention in Syria and many traditional allies, such as the United Kingdom, have refused to join the U.S. in the action.

It is expected that Obama can garner enough support from the Democrat-controlled Senate after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed Wednesday a resolution on authorizing a limited U.S. military strike against Syria, thanks to the support of several hawks from the Republican Party.

The full house of the Senate is to hold a heated debate and a vote on the resolution in the week of Sept. 9 after it returns from the summer break.

But the real test for Obama will be in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, where many Republican lawmakers have expressed opposition to Obama's Syria plan despite rare calls for support to Obama issued by Republican Speaker John Boehner and majority leader Eric Cantor.