Although President Nixon described his decision to move into Cambodia as being taken without regard to domestic political considerations, Administration insiders suggest that the President did think seriously about the political consequences. The prognosis was good. “When the public thinks about Vietnam, it thinks about indecision,” commented one Administration source. “The decision to go into Cambodia means we are finally doing something.”
The House can be counted as firmly on the President’s side in the Cambodia move: hence the Chief Executive’s suggestion that the foreign affairs committees of both houses meet with him to discuss the decision. In suggesting a joint meeting, the President hopes to defuse the talk of a constitutional crisis coming from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Opposition in the Senate to the Cambodia move is, of course, strong, but conservative senators are wondering if their doveish colleagues aren’t for once too far removed from their constituencies. There was no massive public reaction against the President’s move, and already some Senate Foreign Relations Committee liberals were beginning to hedge their bets.
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