Behind The Mic With Joe Mathieu: What If Congress Says No On Syria?

BOSTON (CBS) - You know the old saying, "it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission." But permission is exactly what the president has asked for in the case of Syria and he's betting on a yes.

The White House won't even talk about the possibility of a no vote.

Let's remember that President Obama did not have to go to Congress. As we've already discussed, the War Powers Resolution gives the Commander-in-Chief authority to deploy the military to defend the nation for as long as 60-days before consulting Congress.

And that would be plenty of time for the strike that has been proposed.

And now President Obama is getting push back from Capitol Hill. Even some members of his own party are skeptical of this plan and not because they doubt that Syria used chemical weapons. They want to know why it's our problem and how an attack would help.

A lot could happen in the next couple of days but it is still possible that Congress will vote against the use of force in Syria.

And that would leave the president in a real bind.

He could technically still launch an attack under the War Powers Resolution and the optics would be terrible.

But some suggest that doing nothing would be an even worse scenario because it would show that America is not only war weary, but that threats from this president are empty - a dangerous combination that could embolden countries like Iran.

This is not getting any easier.

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