National Security Adviser Susan Rice addressed the New America Foundation today and forcefully argued that Congress should approve President Barack Obama’s request for an authorization for the use of military force against Syria:

“Any president, Republican or Democrat, must have recourse to all elements of American power to design and implement our national security policy — diplomatic, economic or militaristic,” Rice said during an address at the nonpartisan New American Foundation. “Rejecting limited military action that President Obama strongly supports would raise questions around the world about whether the United States is truly prepared to use the full range of its power.”

She called attention to the need for presidential flexibility, arguing that “any president, Republican or Democrat, must have recourse to all elements of American power to design and implement our national security policy — diplomatic, economic or militaristic President’s flexibility on foreign affairs.”

The administration is launching what the Washington Post describes as “an intensive public and private lobbying push”:

Obama plans to meet with Senate Democrats on Tuesday, senior Senate aides said. Then millions of Americans will see him make his case during network television interviews Monday and a prime-time address from the White House on Tuesday in which the president, according to an administration official, will argue that not punishing Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons would embolden his regime and his allies Hezbollah and Iran.

Syrian media, meanwhile, is gloating that the request for authorization is “the start of the historic American retreat” from the global stage. Congress is expected to begin voting on the request as early as Wednesday.

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