WASHINGTON
(AP) -- A new TV ad that urges Congress to oppose U.S. military strikes
against Syria underscores the difficulty President Barack Obama is
having in getting war-weary liberals to support him.
The
30-second ad by the liberal activist group MoveOn.org says the U.S.
didn't set out to spend eight years at war in Iraq and a decade in
Afghanistan and predicts the same thing will happen if Congress approves
Obama's desired military action in Syria.
Obama
says the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad should be punished
for carrying out a deadly chemical weapons attack last month outside
the capital of Damascus.
The ad, titled "Not
Again," concludes by telling Congress, "Don't lead us down this road
again." Viewers are given a telephone number and urged to call Congress
to voice opposition.
The full Senate could
vote by the end of this week on whether to give Obama authority to use
military force, though many lawmakers in both parties are opposed to
doing so.
MoveOn says the ad will air this
week on MSNBC, with a heavier rotation around Obama's planned address to
the nation Tuesday night.
The group is spending in the "mid five figures" to air the commercial.
MoveOn
was one of Obama's biggest campaign supporters, but Anna Galland, its
executive director, said in an interview Saturday that the organization
is following the will of its members. During a recent 24-hour vote, more
than 70 percent of MoveOn's members came out against military strikes,
she said. Recent surveys also show public opinion running against U.S.
intervention.
Galland said the group "will
stand closely" with Obama on other issues, such as the implementation of
his health care law. But on Syria, "we had a very clear mandate from
our members to go out strongly on this," she said. "This is a big
moment."
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