It's not being billed as momentous as the votes in January of 1991 or October of 2002, but the U.S. Senate yesterday did vote to give President Obama authorization to pursue a plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels in the battle to take down ISIS.
Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio both approved the president's controversial proposal, which he insists is not about putting U.S. ground troops into action.
But 22 Senators voted no, including Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand. Republicans who voted no include Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, who said, "The people in this body are petrified — not of ISIS — but of the American voter."
It's important to note that this authorization is for only 90 days, meaning that there will be a much more robust war debate after the November midterms, which Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin (who voted yes yesterday) said will be "one of the most important votes we can cast.”
SInce August 8, the U.S. military has launched 176 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. The president says that the military will soon begin bombing in Syria, but when isn't clear.
What is clear is that there will be plenty of second-guessing on Obama's strategy.
“There will be boots on the ground if there’s to be any hope of success in the strategy,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview with CBS News, adding that “the president in effect traps himself” by repeating his mantra that he won’t send U.S. troops into combat.
In other news...
Starting tonight, there will be an anti-domestic violence message delivered before every high school football game in Hillsborough County for the next month.
At the Tiger Bay meeting yesterday in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County Commission candidates met up for a candidates forum. Though District 2 candidates Ed Hooper and Pat Gerard have been firing serious allegations at each other, they refrained from doing so at the debate.
And the city of Tampa unveiled a new park yesterday named after a civil rights activist.
And finally… I want to apologize to Kevin King and Ben Kirby in St. Pete Mayor Kriseman's office. I somehow implied in the MPR yesterday that they had something to do with the negotiations between the city and Bill Edwards regarding Al Lang Stadium. They did not.