WASHINGTON — Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation — all of whom were initially wary of American involvement in Libya — mostly praised President Barack Obama’s speech to clarify the U.S. mission on Monday.

“I think he made a strong case for why we did intervene militarily, and he clarified the limited nature of the mission we have signed up for,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. “Regime change is not the mission, and the bulk of our military effort is now going to ratchet down.”

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he was reassured by Obama’s assertion that U.S. involvement will be limited.

“I think he did a good job of laying out a reasonable plan,” Udall said. “The one thing that is clear is that the operation we’re engaged in with our allies has started to achieve its goals and the president has started to outline the limited nature of this effort.”

Udall said Congress must exercise its constitutional authority to “make sure this action is of limited duration and doesn’t develop mission creep … but we are going to protect the Libyan people.”

Udall and Bingaman both said they don’t share some congressional complaints that Congress has not been adequately informed of the U.S. mission.

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., was scheduled to be on a flight during the speech. But in a Journal interview beforehand, he said he was “solidly opposed to what we’re doing” in Libya.

“It feels like an ad hoc war … and we don’t know exactly where we’re headed,” Pearce said.

Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said Obama made a case for why military force in Libya was “necessary,” effectively explained why he sought international help for the mission and described how NATO would take over the mission.

“Not acting would have resulted in the mass slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians and deprived the Libyan people of the opportunity for the democratic change they are calling for,” Heinrich said.

A spokesman for Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat who was unable to watch the speech because of a previous speaking commitment, said the congressman hoped Obama would “make it clear to the American people that the international effort in Libya is strictly humanitarian and will not involve U.S. ground troops.”

“He also has concerns regarding the costs associated with U.S. involvement at a time when we face difficult budget choices,” Luján spokesman Andrew Stoddard said.

Monty Newman, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, said Obama did not adequately describe the U.S. mission in Libya.

“In saying things like ‘progress will be uneven,’ the president did nothing to reassure Americans that our military will not become engulfed in a third war in the Middle East,” Newman said.

Javier Gonzales chairman of the state Democratic Party, said, “President Obama demonstrated leadership this evening by successfully building an international coalition that he brought together to stop the senseless killing of civilians by Gaddaffi’s regime. ”