Hillary Clinton Wants President Obama To Confront Russia In Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listens to President Barack Obama during a meeting of his Cabinet in Washington, November 28, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Josh Rogin, Bloomberg: Clinton Wants Obama to Confront Putin in Syria

Hillary Clinton took a big step away from President Obama’s foreign policy at Tuesday night’s debate, challenging him to resist Russia's intervention in the Syrian war. She also recast her call for a Syrian no-fly zone, saying it is needed to fight President Vladimir Putin's aggression.

“We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important,” Clinton said. “I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating.”

As of last week, Clinton had been open to the idea of working with Russia. On Oct. 6, Clinton discussed her support for a no-fly zone, saying “the Russians would have to be part of it, or it wouldn’t work.” On Tuesday, after Putin's aggression, she said a no-fly zone would make sense "because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table."

WNU Editor: Hilary Clinton has recetly been pushing the idea of having a no-fly zone over Syria .... Hillary Clinton Says Syria ‘No-Fly’ Zone Could Get Putin to Negotiate (Bloomberg). More of an analysis on her proposal is here .... Is Clinton’s no-fly zone in Syria really on the table? (Michael Pizzi, Al Jazeera). What's my take .... it is DOA. But she is trying her best to distance herself from President Obama, especially on this issue where (quite frankly) there is really no good options or results.