The White House Admits that Kerry’s ‘Off The Cuff’ Syria Comment Was Planned for Months

The White House admitted today that John Kerry’s ‘off the cuff’ comment about Syria’s chemical weapons was planned and in the works for months.

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According to HuffPo:

Secretary of State John Kerry may not have been speaking completely off the cuff on Monday when he said Syria could turn its chemical weapons over to the international community in order to avert a U.S. strike. In fact, the proposal appears to have been long in the making, pre-dating the horrific chemical attack in Damascus in late August.

Speaking in London on Monday, Kerry surprised the world when he said Syria could hand over its entire stockpile of chemical weapons in one week in order to avoid a U.S. attack. It was still more surprising when Russia and Syria quickly backed the idea, as did officials at the United Nations.

The State Department responded that Kerry had simply been making “a rhetorical argument.”

While it’s not clear whether Kerry had planned in advance to make that remark on Monday, the concept had been first proposed more than a year earlier.

“This wasn’t an accident,” a top White House official told The Huffington Post.

So much for the argument from some on the left that Russia was “bailing out” Obama on Syria. The truth is that those in the media (I’m looking at you, Ed Schultz), and those on the left who were screaming warmonger were so completely wrong that they should be ashamed of themselves.

As usual, Barack Obama was ten steps ahead of his critics, and that’s why this president is moving closer to a diplomatic solution on Syria’s chemical weapons.

Here’s a newsflash for the media. Obama is smarter than you. All presidents use the media’s ability to jump off the ledge and get hysterical over anything, but Obama has raised the technique to the level of high art. It is amazing that so many of the Obama bashers and media car chasers haven’t figured out yet that nothing is said accidentally. Every word is measured and used for a reason.

The idea that Russia pounced on an idea that John Kerry just so happened to casually mention demonstrates a fundamental ignorance of both the diplomatic process, and how presidential administrations use the media.

Obama’s goal always has been to get a diplomatic solution, and once again this president has outsmarted those who are guided by their own small minded biases.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association