It is true that the President sometimes needs to make threats that he does not intend to carry out in order to be a credible bargainer on the international stage. But to do this he must also have credibility at home-- people have to trust that he will act reasonably and not get the country into a disastrous conflict-- as he has before-- and disregard wise counsel and recalcitrant evidence-- as he has before. The President must regain the trust of Congress before he can usefully engage in saber rattling. Until he does so, Congress must rein him in. The current Democratic strategy of nonbinding resolutions, I fear, will not be enough. They will be too easily disregarded. The Democrats have assumed that nonbinding resolutions will signal to the President that he is isolated politically. That will do nothing. This President already knows that he is isolated politically. He already knows that the public is against him and he plans to proceed in any case. Like any headstrong individual, this President needs to understand that there will be real consequences for not acting responsibly.

A fascinating (and scary) article...