Obama says Syria puts int'l community's credibility on line

US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the credibility of the U.S. Congress was on the line in the need to uphold a ban on chemical weapons and to respond to Syria's chemical weapons attack. "My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line," Obama told a news conference in Sweden. "America and Congress' credibility is on the line, because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important," Obama added. Obama said he hoped that Russian President Vladimir Putin would change his position on Syria. "Do I hold out hope that Mr. Putin may change his position on some of these issues? I'm always hopeful, and I will continue to engage him," Obama told a news conference in Sweden. Obama added that he had made appeals directly to Putin on Syria, but so far he had resisted efforts to achieve U.N. Security Council action.