They are doing it so that Obama appears more “mainstream” and, as the old saying goes, it’s hard to oust a sitting president in wartime. This is political theater for the next election — count on it.
I think that intentionally alienating the far left can only do so much for a Democrat politically. Obama’s record in office is plain to everyone by now, and his half-hearted attempt to reinvent himself a couple months ago petered out. The best explanation I can think for this action is to keep HRC from resigning and possibly to head off a refugee crisis in Europe. But otherwise, the Obama administration seems to have the Carter disease. Unlike the Carter administration, the defense department isn’t in post-vietnam disarray, but the commander in chief is still an indicisive nitwit.