“A majority of House members are now on the record as either against or leaning against authorizing President Obama to use military force against Syria,” according to the latest Washington Post whip count.

“As of Friday afternoon, there were 223 members in the ‘no’ or ‘leaning no’ category, more than the 217 that would be needed to sink the resolution.”

President Obama “ran into an impasse on Friday in his bid to rally international backing for a military strike on Syria as world leaders wrapped up a summit meeting here remaining deeply divided over the right response to what the Americans have called the deadliest nerve gas attack in decades,” the New York Times reports.

“After a dinner debate that lasted into the early morning hours of Friday, Mr. Obama emerged with a few supporters but no consensus, as other leaders urged him not to attack without United Nations permission, which is not forthcoming. Instead, the president had to resign himself to generalized statements of concern over the use of chemical weapons.”

Roll Call: Iran plots revenge if U.S. attacks Syria.

President has refused to answer whether he would attack Syria even if Congress refuses to authorize such attacks, but a senior White House official strongly suggested he won’t do it, Yahoo News reports.

Said Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken: “The president, of course, has the authority to act. But it’s neither his desire, nor his intention, to use that authority absent Congress backing him.”

President Obama said he will make his case for a military strike on Syria in an address to the nation on Tuesday, The Hill reports.

“Obama’s decision to address the country from the Oval Office underscores concerns that the administration is losing ground in its bid to secure congressional approval for a vote.”

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country “will continue arms sales and aid Syria if the U.S. goes forward with a military strike.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “felt the heat of opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria on Thursday during a town-hall meeting in Phoenix that exposed the emotions and ethic and religious tensions connected to crisis in the Middle East,” the Arizona Republic reports.

First Read: “If the Obama administration loses, many might not realize the
full-fledged political crisis the president will face. His congressional
opposition will be more emboldened, if that was possible. (Any
advantage the Democrats hold in the upcoming fiscal fights ahead could
quickly disappear.) A year before the 2014 midterms, Democrats will
start hitting the panic button with a wounded Democratic president in
office. (If you’ve paid attention to politics over the past two decades,
when the going gets tough, Democrats often jump ship.) And any
lame-duck status for Obama would be expedited. (After all, a “no” vote
by Congress would rebuke the nation’s commander-in-chief.)”

“Up until now,
the first nine months of Obama’s second term have been, well, a
disappointment. Gun control was stopped in the Senate; immigration
reform is stalled in the House; no progress has been achieved in the
budget talks. So if you throw in Congress rebuking the president from
taking military action in Syria — something he has said is necessary —
that would be a huge political blow to Obama’s political standing.”

Foreign Policy: “It’s not easy to get yourself into the kind of predicament that
the president of the United States finds himself in today.”

Ron Brownstein: “For nearly a
decade, from Bill Clinton’s first-term moves into Haiti and Bosnia
through George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, the current of
American foreign policy moved steadily toward greater tolerance of
military intervention abroad. The division, ambivalence, and hesitation
in both parties about intervening in Syria culminate a subsequent decade
that has almost completely reversed this tide.”

Politico:
“The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is planning to launch a major
lobbying campaign to push wayward lawmakers to back the resolution
authorizing U.S. strikes against Syria, sources said Thursday. Officials
say that some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists will storm the
halls on Capitol Hill beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that
Congress must adopt the resolution or risk emboldening Iran’s efforts to
build a nuclear weapon. They are expected to lobby virtually every
member of Congress, arguing that ‘barbarism’ by the Assad regime cannot
be tolerated, and that failing to act would ‘send a message’ to Tehran
that the U.S. won’t stand up to hostile countries’ efforts to develop
weapons of mass destruction, according to a source with the group.”