summary of a lengthy analysis of the current situation in Syria, as published on antiwar.com:

If Assad does prove he is in control and succeeds in bringing these meaningful changes at the cost of less than a few thousand casualties, he will have triumphed.  Those who perished during the protests will be remembered as martyrs, and Syria will have taken a gigantic leap forward.  Assad could still emerge a hero, but the window is closing fast and hopes in him are duly fading.

If, on the other hand, he can’t manage to deliver that much after 11 years as President and when stakes are this high, then quite frankly he’d be best described by the term he once infamously used to refer to the compliant rulers of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia: a “half-man”.

key quotes from an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning edition of "Fox & Friends":

"I suppose [President Obama] should try to get [his agenda] out there, but we're looking at, I think, smoke and mirrors for the next 19 months...Unfortunately, I think it's going to fall on deaf ears, because with peoples' houses being foreclosed, people out of work, and deficits as far as the eye can see, he's in a very, very tough situation.  The Republicans are going to bang on him for that, and they're going to be very successful in discrediting him further in the eyes of the American people."