Chris Matthews: Dems. Will Be Forced to Vote for Syrian Action to 'Save the President's Hide

Despite personally opposing the idea of intervening in Syria, many Democrats will no doubt support the president’s call to action because they feel obligated to save his “hide,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews said Wednesday.

President Obama surrounded by congress. (Getty Images)

To be fair, the MSNBC personality explained, the president has put many congressional Democrats in a difficult position: between party loyalty and disloyalty and between supporting war and voting against war.

“Let’s go all the way down to the final stretch here,” Matthews said. “You’ve got [John] Boehner trying to corral enough votes that he can at least dribble out a few of them, and Pelosi stuck with the challenge of a minority caucus where she has to deliver a majority vote.”

“You’re watching Boehner there dribbling out a few votes here and there, as the clock ticks down to zero, and she has to make up the difference. If you have the Hastert Rule in effect, I don’t think you even have this vote, but apparently it won’t be in effect,” he added.

Matthews continued:

So you’ll have minority Republican vote, and Pelosi’s going to have to make up the difference with the minority caucus. She’s going to have to come in with a supermajority of Democrats to support their Democratic president. This is a wicked position they have put her in. Maybe she can meet the standard. But I don’t know whether [Chief of Staff Denis] McDonough and the president walking along the south lawn the other day were thinking about the endgame.

He concluded by predicting Democrats will be “forced to sacrifice” party members “who really, really don’t want to vote for” military intervention in Syria.

“They’re going to have to vote for it to save the president’s hide,” he said. “That’s a bad position to put your party in.”

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough agreed, noting the idea of parties supporting their leader’s call to war is hardly new.

“When you hear Barbara Boxer, when you hear Jim Moran, you have to wonder what they would have said had it been a Republican president,” Matthews said.

“Clearly people are changing sides. Just like the Democrats who supported Lyndon Johnson after the Vietnam war, after it was over they turned on Nixon. The same exact people. So partisanship shows its ugly head here,” he added:

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(H/T: Mediaite). Featured image AP photo.

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