Politically, if Obama wins Congressional authorization to bomb Syria in a squeaker vote, he will have used so much political capital that there may be little left for the upcoming fights over the budget and the debt ceiling, and Congressional Democrats will likely have lost whatever chance they have of retaking the House in 2014 and guaranteed years more of Washington gridlock and inaction on the nation's pressing problems
if Obama becomes the first president in modern history to lose such a Congressional vote, he immediately becomes a lame duck for the remaining three years of his term.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-...b_3894847.html