The Obama Administration needs to accept the fact that Assad will remain in power. By supporting the rebels against Assad, means that Washington is confronting Moscow directly, not simply as surrogates. An accidental shooting down of either side's planes will produce reactions far in excess of what is needed. The Donald Trumps of the world would have us prepare for war, of course his kids would be exempt, since they are too important to be fodder in combat. Others can do that. The Dick Cheney model.

Looking at history, relations between Syria  and America are slim to none. Only with the Arab Spring did Assad's dictatorship catch the eye of Washington. As civil war broke out, the Assad regime crushed the rebels' initial efforts, and continued to punish the Syrian people. Obama announced in  August, 2011, in concert with representatives from France, the United Kingdom and Germany that "for the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside." And with that, outside of sending a limited amount of weapons and materials, the Obama administration has done nothing noteworthy. In contrast, Syria's long time ally, Moscow, has begun to openly support Assad by killing rebels, and as a balance  attacks ISIS forces. This serves as a sop to Washington, but also indicates that Russia is willing to help America destroy ISIS.

At this point, the White House should end its efforts to overthrow Assad, since that will not happen with Moscow's intrusion, and join  Russia to destroy ISIS, which is a far greater threat to world civilization. Were Washington to join forces with Moscow, other NATO countries would step up to the plate, and in the process eliminate a possible Russian-Turkish confrontation due to Moscow's flights over Turkish territory. As said before, the ball is in Obama's court, and no one seems to know how to hit it back, not even the level headed presidential candidates.