Michael McFaul's memories

Former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul seen her speaking with President Obama back in the day. Saw quite a few comments on Xitter criticizing McFaul for an allegedly weak response to Russia invading and occupying Crimea, Ukraine. There's a strong argument for the US to have immediately waged war in response. But let's give this some thought. 

1. For two nuclear powers to have fought a war might not have been a great idea.

2. We had just pulled the last troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. We still had troops in Afghanistan. 

3.  Ukraine was not a member of NATO. The US had no legal obligation to defend it. 

4. Most critically I think, the Republican Senate had gone so overboard on using the filibuster, Obama might have had a difficult time rallying the country. For any bill to pass the Senate had to be approved by at least 60-40. It's pretty much impossible to fight a war when you must have a supermajority in the Senate to get anything done.