Proponents of the U.S. resolution this time said the early positions taken by President Barack Obama as a candidate in support of acknowledging the genocide put the latest drive in a much better position to withstand the Turkish lobby in Washington.
Since Schiff introduced the resolution, the network of Armenian political action groups have mobilized their members to lobby Congressional representatives in support of the measure.
They are doing so with a keen eye to Obama’s planned trip to Turkey next month, during which supporters said they hoped the president would prepare his Turkish counterparts for a positive position.
“I think the nod from Obama would do a great deal to catapult it forward,” said Zanku Armenian, a board member for the Armenian National Committee Glendale Chapter.
In anticipation of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Schiff and three other Congressional representatives sent a letter to Obama, calling on him to make good on his “clear and unequivocal” record of supporting the formal acknowledgment.
Schiff agreed that this time around, a statement of support from Obama early in the process could increase the chances of the resolution making it through Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007 was set to bring the resolution up for a full vote before 24 of its 235 backers withdrew support following Bush’s lobby. With support for the resolution weakened, Schiff and his co-sponsors requested that it be tabled until political conditions improved.
Similar resolutions failed to even get that far after passing the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2000 and 2005, and supporters did not want to risk a no vote.
“I think [Obama] will really be the game-changing dynamic,” Schiff said.
