It’s astonishing how the decision of one man can affect the whole world and when that man happens to be the most powerful man in the world he has to make sure that he thinks carefully before he acts and that he gets those decisions right first time.

President Obama is clearly a cautious man, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, his official title of Commander in Chief means that he must make a decision sooner or later.

 I’ve been in the USA for over a week now and I haven’t met one person who is in favour of bombing Syria. When I turn on the television I see reports of demonstrations and protests against military action and it seems clear that if Congress (in effect the American Parliament) were to take a vote now they would vote against it too. Of course, that may change.

In the meantime Obama must be agonising over what to do. The American constitution is a complicated creature although there is a clear sequence of events. The President can take any action he sees fit where he perceives a threat to national security. As one political commentator said recently, the President acts, Congress reacts and the US Courts review.

There was no constitutional need for Obama to delay his plans (real or otherwise) to bomb Syria and refer the matter to Congress. If he truly wanted military action and believed it was necessary then it would have been carried out weeks ago – irrespective of what the rest of the world might say. It may be nice to have friends and allies but the cold fact is that America is so powerful it doesn’t really need any.

To me, President Obama is a truly modern politician (like a recent UK Prime Minister I can think of) who throws a proposed  policy or action up in the air, observes the kind of reaction it elicits and then proceeds accordingly. It seems to me that on this occasion at least, his caution may prove well-founded.