Translation — the fix is in. He must know he has the votes. There are very few in Congress with a clue.
I’d suggest that he knows that it was a mistake to say he wasn’t going, and this is going to provide him cover to back out. He’s replicating what David Cameron did.
He’ll take the vote in congress and no matter what happens, he’s covered. If they vote yes, then he can go and blame it on congress if it goes south. If they vote no, he can back out and say he wanted to go, but the evil republicans in congress wouldn’t let him, so he deferred in bipartisanship...and the media will once again kiss his @ss.