Barack Obama faces resistance in Senate, Syria vote delayed

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama faced stiff resistance from the opposition Republican Senators and scepticism from his own Democrats, forcing the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to postpone the vote on military intervention in Syria.

According a media report, Obama could fall short of 50 votes needed to get Senate authorisation for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria.

While so far only six Democratic Senators have publicly announced their decision to vote against the resolution, the number can grow.

In multiple interviews, Obama himself said he was not very confident of having enough votes.

"Opposition is growing among Obama's allies and former colleagues in his own party on a US strike on Syria, a sign that there is a real chance that the White House could fall short of the 50 votes it needs to win in the Senate, according to several sources familiar with the situation," Politico reported yesterday.

Sensing trouble, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will not rush the vote to begin considering the use-of-force resolution, and insisted that he has enough votes.

"I've spoken to the Republican leader. I've talked to virtually all my Democratic senators and we have enough votes to get cloture," he said.

"I don't think we need to see how fast we can do this. We have to see how well we can do this. I think what we need to do is make sure that the President has the opportunity to speak to all 100 senators and all 300 million American people before we do this," Reid said.

Republican Senator Johnny Isakson said he would vote against the resolution to authorise a US military strike in Syria.