The establishment rightwing, specifically the interventionist camp of McCain and Graham were pushing him to bomb Assad.
If Obama wanted to take Assad out, he had plenty of opportunities to do so. He was practically served an excuse when the chemical weapons attack occurred. But he didn't take it.
The only thing Obama could do was give some tepid support to the rebels, to stave off the Hillary,McCain,Graham war party.
Re. Ghouta
This brazen assault had clearly crossed the “red line” that President Barack Obama had enunciated a year earlier—that if Assad used chemical weapons, it would warrant U.S. military action.
Heading into the long weekend, the Pentagon had made plans for round-the-clock staffing, since we thought the military operation would start over the holiday. As the assistant secretary of cefense for international security affairs, I had been involved in the deliberations and planning for the strikes. Yet early Saturday morning, I received a call from Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’soffice with surprising news: The president had called Hagel late the night before and told him he “wanted to explore another option.” Instead of ordering strikes immediately, the president wanted to pump the brakes and first go to Congress to ask for its authorization.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/obama-syria-foreign-policy-red-line-revisited-214059
If Obama really wanted to attack Assad, why didn't he just attack him without going to Congress. Trump didn't go to Congress when he launched cruise missiles.
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I really can't believe any of you are saying Obama wanted to bomb Assad, it runs so contrary to reality, which we all are familiar with since it happened only a few years ago.