I said I wasn’t going to post on Syria today, but I couldn’t help myself. This is just a quick one on the politics of it.

Matt Lewis has a smart post today noting that Rand Paul benefits the most from a vote on a strike on Syria. After all, the junior senator from Kentucky has already declared himself as an anti-interventionist (or, not pro-interventionist) and he can simply continue to lead that group. For others though, this vote will force them to choose sides. The New York Times‘s Jonathan Martin notes the difficulty of the situation:

But the Syria measure also has important implications for the 2016 Republican presidential contest. White House hopefuls in Congress will be forced to choose between the wishes of Tea Party activists opposed to a strike and the wishes of more traditional Republicans, whose ranks include some major donors and Israel supporters with whom presidential candidates typically align themselves.

And as the hawks are aware, a “yea” vote on taking action in Syria would put potential opponents of Mr. Paul, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Mr. Cruz, on the same side as Mr. Obama.

This is a serious topic obviously and has grave implications for the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. But, it’s also one of the first legislative battles in a while that forces Congressmen to do more than just stick to their side. It’s not President Obama vs. Speaker Boehner. It’s not Senate Democrats vs. Senate Republicans. For once, the entire focus is on doing what is best for the country. Of course, it’d be better if Assad never used chemical weapons and we didn’t have to debate whether to go to war with him. But it also would’ve been nice to not have to debate raising the debt ceiling or sequestration. In the midst of those crises though, partisan politics prevailed. This one is different.

It’s about time that Rubio, Cruz and other 2016 hopefuls had to support a policy on its merits, instead of for political reasons. Rubio deserves credit for sticking with immigration reform and pushing for its passage, but he also walked a tight line the entire time, worried about how his support for the bill would play with the Tea Party. As for Cruz, he’s spent his first nine months in Congress opposing everything the President has done. That’s it. It’s time that he had to face tough questions and do more than repeat the angry Tea Party talking points. The politics of voting for or against a Syrian strike are very unclear. That means that everyone in Congress will get to look at the entire situation and decide based on pure policy grounds what they believe is the best strategy going forward. Politics, for once, will be almost entirely absent from the conversation. It’s about time Congressmen voted for what was in the best interests of America, instead of their own.