It only took 3,000 dead civilians and the most brutal crackdown by a government in living memory. But after 5 months, the Obama administration is asking Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave office.

Reuters:

President Barack Obama Thursday said it was time for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign, and said the United States was implementing tough new sanctions to help end violence in Syria.

"The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way," Obama said in a statement. "His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.

"For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."

Better late than never? Not exactly. Much of the rest of the world beat us to it, which makes the president's pronouncement ring rather hollow.