- The president will still make the case that Congress must authorize military force
- The White House doesn't think Russia' has knocked the steam out
- Will the lobbying efforts pay off in votes
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama's war drums continue to beat, but an offhand comment from Secretary of State John Kerry has set in motion a diplomatic effort by Russia -- and seized on at the United Nations -- to ward off a U.S. strike on Syria in favor of mediation.
What Kerry's comment wrought is either an accidental out for a president hemmed in by his own red line, or a momentum-sucking goof that just erased any chance the president had to engage in a military strike without broader international approval.
Will Russia's proposal delay an Obama strike? And how can Obama sway Americans to support military action? With his approval ratings on all fronts tanking, Obama's primetime televised address Tuesday night will be crucial. It'll be the administration's closing argument after a week of courting lawmakers.
Here are five things to look for today.
1. What Obama says in his speech
The president will still make the case that Congress must authorize military force in Syria, a senior administration official told CNN. This, despite the fact that Obama believes Kerry's offhand offer for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons could bear fruit now that Russia and the United Nations have jumped aboard.
The link between the two? The administration argues that the offer to turn over chemical weapons wouldn't be on the table if not for the threat of force.
A senior administration official told CNN that Kerry's not in trouble with the president for the comment, but does admit that it was off the cuff while restating administration policy. Bottom line: It wasn't inconsistent with what was happening behind the scenes, according to the official.
To make his case for a military strike, the president will lay out what happened in the chemical weapons attack Syria on August 21, and why it's in America's interest to act. He'll argue that the United States can't let this kind of attack go unanswered, and he'll tell us how he sees it impacting the safety of U.S. troops.
And perhaps the toughest one of all, he'll tell a nation weary from more than a decade of war why Syria isn't Iraq or Afghanistan.
2. Whether Russia's diplomatic volley has knocked the steam out of a strike
The White House isn't acting like it has. If anything the lobbying on Capitol Hill is intensifying ahead of the president's address.
It all starts with President Obama, who will go to the Hill on Tuesday to make his case to Senate Democrats, a Senate leadership aide told CNN. Making sure to hit both sides of the aisle, the president also will attend the Senate GOP lunch, according to a Senate Republican aide.
The House Armed Services Committee hosts three of the administration's big guns beginning Tuesday morning. Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All of them willget important face time with the influential committee.
Although no longer a member of the administration, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak on Syria at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, just ahead of the president's national address.
3. Whether the lobbying efforts pay off in votes
For the time being, the tide is against the White House. On Monday, six senators notched their votes in the "no" column, with just one, Democratic Sen. Barabara Mikulski, saying she would favor military intervention against Syria. In the House, chalk up 13 new "no" votes.
That brings the total of "no" votes to 29 in the Senate and 161 in the House.
Still, there are a lot of undecided members -- 46 in the Senate and at least 229 in the House. The numbers could still work out for the president.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postponed a procedural vote that had been scheduled for Wednesday. The Senate's in no hurry to vote on Syria.
4. If Obama fares better in the court of public opinion
Next question, please.
The president's approval rating on foreign policy is at an all-time low of 40%, a steady slide from 54% in January, according to a CNN/ORC International survey.
Just three in 10 approve of how he's handling Syria.
5. How the international community reacts
The next move appears to be Russia's in this diplomatic chess match. Can Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov deliver on the offer to have Syria hand its chemical arsenal over to international control, or is it just an effort to buy time for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?
The White House is willing to listen and, perhaps, wait a bit -- but not too long.
"It's certainly a positive development when the Russians and Syrians both make gestures towards dealing with these chemical weapons," Obama told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday. But Obama said the threat of American force would remain.
"We don't want just a stalling or delaying tactic to put off the pressure that we have on there right now."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is listening too. He's considering asking the U.N. Security Council to demand the Syrian government immediately hand over its chemical weapons to be destroyed.
France and Germany also say they like what they're hearing about a diplomatic solution. But, said the French foreign minister, the Security Council needs to oversee the process; that it should start immediately; and the plan shouldn't let anyone off the hook for ordering a chemical attack.
Iran, a longtime Syria ally, welcomes the Russian initiative "to stop militarism in the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Tuesday.
China, also an ally of Syria, has yet to weigh in on this latest development.
CNN's Dana Bash, Steve Brusk, Dan Merica, Paul Steinhauser, Zachary Wolf and Karla Crosswhite contributed to this report.
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