Bergen: Obama, realist and risk taker - CNN.com

Peter Bergen
This is some of the context of Obama's decision to go to Congress to seek authorization for a military strike on Syria. Obama has wanted to leave office in 2016 as the president who had made it harder, not easier, for future presidents to go to war unilaterally without the input of Congress.

In going to Congress for authorization of any military operation in Syria, we see Obama the former constitutional law professor at work, but we also see Obama the pragmatist.