President Obama’s Syrian strategy was very unpopular with American people. He soon realized that strikes were a bad idea and decided to make a compromise with Russia, Asssad’s ally. A few questions that are very important on this issue are as followed: How much did public opinion impact the president’s strategy on the issue? Is public opinion an effective democratic control on government? The following paragraphs will answer these questions completely and clearly. To begin, public opinion impacted President Obamas strategy dramatically. Obama wanted to strike against Assad to protect the people of Syria. This concerned Americans because the people of Syria had seen so much death already and didn’t need the case to worsen. Russia and the American people helped Obama realize that there was an easier way to punish Assad, a compromise. The compromise was to take inventory on all chemical weapons and begin to destroy them within the following year. If Congress had not been there to make the voice of the people heard, Obama would have done whatever he saw fit, with or without Congress’ approval. Obama saw that this would affect his role as president. If he would’ve gone against Congress’ vote, it could have encouraged public outcries and impeachment hearings in the Republican-led House. In this case, the public’s opinion was a good thing because it helped President Obama and Congress come up with a compromise with Russia. This compromise leads to a smarter and safer decision for both countries. It allowed Russia to protect their ally, took