For Obama on Iraq, the stakes have never been higher

President Obama smiled his way to the podium to announce that the world would have to wait for America’s next move over Iraq. There shouldn’t have been too much surprise. His is a presidency disinclined toward military action.

He hasn’t taken the military option off the table. Anything but. There was a careful twinning, though, throughout his statement, when for every mention of military action there was a corresponding reference to political efforts on the part of Iraq’s leaders.

The president’s critics warn of leaving options on the table for too long. Reluctance to act sends the stakes ever higher. The longer he delays, the less effective any strikes might be. The further Iraq fractures, the greater the effort that will be required to put it back together.

But others warn the president against being drawn into any military action by domestic political pressures. They remind him that there is no reliable intelligence on tap in Iraq to call in strikes. There is a great danger, they say, that partisan commanders in the Iraqi army might use the opportunity presented by air strikes to settle sectarian scores. And who will keep civilians safe?

As for the notion that Iraqi factional leaders will now find the nationalist urge that’s been so absent for so long, it seems wishful thinking. Still, politics and diplomacy are this president’s preferred weapons. Whichever route he chooses, the stakes have never been higher.

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