In Obama’s 15 minute speech to the nation on Sunday, he spent perhaps one-quarter of his time speaking about virtually the same measures he has the last two times he spoke on this topic. How he intends to destroy ISIS: no American ground troops, cooperation with our allies in the coalition, reliance on local ground forces and airstrikes on ISIS resources. The next two quarters of the speech Obama talked about the need for greater gun control measures, his standard response to any domestic “mass shooting,” and stronger screening for U.S. travelers who go to war zones. The President also encouraged Congress to authorize the continued use of military force against ISIS.
In the final third of his speech tonight, the President talked about the need for Americans to “not turn against one another” which in Obamaspeak means “we must not allow ourselves to define this war as being between America and Islam.”
But what about it being a war between America (and the rest of the West) and radical Islam? Because that is what the majority of Americans think this war is about. No, the President still refuses to concede that point, although he finally did admit that the Dec. 2 attack was an act of terrorism. The President (once again) pointed out that the majority of the victims of this war being waged by ISIS are Muslims.
Obama did, however, finally allow as the source of the terrorism is “an extreme ideology which has been spread through some Muslim communities,” but he insisted that those extremists’ views are “incompatible with the religious values” of Islam, ones of “mutual respect, religious tolerance and human dignity.”
Towards the end of his brief talk the President made two statements, each of which is interesting, for very different reasons. First, he said, while stressing the need to avoid divisiveness and come together around our common ideals, “Freedom is more powerful than fear.” That’s a great phrase. Expect to hear it a lot.
The second comment came just before, and also had to do with his calling on Americans to reject treating Muslim-Americans differently. He said: “Muslim-Americans are our friends, our co-workers, our men and women in uniform.”
Did he really expect that reminder that Muslim-Americans are our co-workers to be a source of reassurance, so quickly after the San Bernardino massacre?
One thing the President did avoid was repeating a few faux pas from his administration’s recent past.
This time the President did not say that ISIS was “contained,” as he did just before the Paris Massacre, nor did he say that al Qaeda was “neutralized” as his Secretary of State John Kerry did just before the Mali terrorist attack, nor did Obama say that there was no credible intelligence that there were any plots against the homeland, as he did just before this latest attack on the American homeland.