So what can the Obama administration do without Congress?   No cruise missile attacks, that's for sure.

Anthing else? It could be argued that we should in fact be arming the Syrian opposition.   But we would have to be sure it's not al-Queda sympathizers we are arming.

And even arming the opposition is unlikely now that Obama has given the Syrian crisis the highest possible profile.   It is quite likely that there will be those in Congress asking pointed questions about any assistance the US would give.   And it's not at all clear if Congress could actually agree to do anything.

So our help to the Syrian opposition could wind up being a lot of hot air--and virtually nothing else.