Republicans are having a blast, assailing President Obama for carrying out what John McCain calls a “feckless foreign policy” that somehow encouraged Vladimir Putin to invade the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine.

The GOP crew blames Obama’s failure to hammer Syrian president Bashar al Assad for Russia’s naked aggression of its independent neighbor of 46M people.

The only fecklessness is the shameful GOP’s effort to weaken Obama and Democratic senators up for re-election in November. It’s a power play as shameful of Putin’s misadventure.

obama, putin

Does today’s Wall Street Journal really believe Obama should dispatch the Sixth Fleet into the Black Sea and steam the recently commissioned George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean to protest Putin’s land grab?

That display of gunboat diplomacy would only exacerbate tensions in the region and set the stage for WWIII.

The truth of the matter: there is no military option for the U.S. Even if the U.S. rained down missiles on Syria, Putin still would have made his move on Ukraine, the most important former Soviet republic, and part of his dream to reconstitute the USSR.

Germany’s leader Angela Merkel has the best take on the situation. She believes Putin has become unhinged and is out of touch with reality. A madman in control of the world’s No 2 nuclear arsenal is not to be taken lightly.

Toning down the heated rhetoric is the best way for Republicans to serve the best interest of both American and Ukraine.

Economic sanctions lodged against the shaky Russian regime and its banking system are best ways to squeeze Putin.

Obama needs to use quiet diplomacy to enlist support of U.S. allies in Europe and Asia to punish Russia on the economic front.

Cowboy-like taunts tossed at the President may be great fun, but they are not helping to find a solution to the problem of getting Russia to withdraw from Crimea and dissuading it from occupying swaths of eastern Ukraine.

The world is waiting for a strong and effective U.S. policy, not nosy and useless saber rattling.