He spent 13 long, long minutes yammering, in an attempt to calm the nation. The broadcast was surreal, in that, instead of sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, he had a podium. He used his soft voice, which he apparently thinks is calming and reassuring, when, in fact, it puts people to sleep and makes it appear as if he doesn’t care.
(LA Times) President Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday night hoping to reassure anxious Americans that his administration has a strategy to defeat Islamic State overseas, and to protect Americans from the threat of homegrown terrorism.
But the 13-minute speech underscored the magnitude of the challenge and the dearth of options for the White House.
Obama revealed no new ideas or plans for dismantling Islamic State, and he again ruled out sending a large force of U.S. ground troops to fight in the Middle East.
Yesterday, I mentioned things we should expect. How’d I do? Using the transcript from Vox
- It’s scheduled for 8pm, so, it will start at around 8:10 (not his usual late, because he wants to be done by kickoff) (only a few minutes late)
- He’ll blame the rise of ISIS on Bush’s “war of choice†in Iraq (surprisingly, he didn’t. He did yammer on about me, myself, and I, though)
- He’ll minimize the danger to the United States and its citizens from ISIS and other radical Islamic groups (he basically said they were contained)
- He won’t even use the phrase “radical Islam†or anything near that (he made mention that a tiny section of Muslims are radicalized, but quickly told us that all these Islamic terrorists are not really Muslims)
- He’ll trot out the strawman that blaming all Muslims is, to put it simply, Islamophobia and un-American (yes, he did. Spent roughly 3:31 doing this)
- He’ll make some equivalency arguments about Christians and the Crusades and Inquisition (nope)
- He’ll say that his strategy in fighting ISIS is working (despite all appearances) (he did this 100%)
- He’ll quickly veer into other subjects, starting with allowing all the Syrian refugees in, and will say they go through the “most rigorous background checks, without mentioning that they rely on the refugees deciding to tell the truth (nope)
- He’ll spend a lot of time on instituting gun control, failing to mention that California has the exact type of gun laws that he and other liberals say will stop these types of shootings (did spend a short time on gun control)
- He’ll whine about Republicans blocking the use of the no-fly list for gun ownership, an arbitrary list with little to no due process, which would have made it impossible for Senator Ted Kennedy to obtain a firearm. For a so-called “Constitutional scholarâ€, he sure seems to fail at knowing and enforcing the Bill of Rights (Oh, yes, he did)
- He’ll have his sad face on, and end up telling us with a wag of a finger that we had best not be mean and say negative things about Muslims (lots of time on this)
- The only time Obama will get passionate will be during the gun control portion. He’ll be dull as dishtowel while discussing the actual shooting, because he really just doesn’t care (He was actually dull as a dishtowel for the entire thing. He didn’t show any passion whatsoever)
It was a speech from a man who has basically given his 2 week notice and is just going through the motions.
There are several steps that Congress should take right away. To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.
Again, even the ACLU is against this list, and sued to make it easier for people to be able to get off this list. It would not have stopped the San Bernardino killers, nor any of the other mass shooters. Foreigners on the list can’t purchase guns legally, since they are not US citizens.
Vox says this speech was not aimed at pundits and insiders, but the average person who doesn’t pay attention that much.
These points may have been old hat to political insiders, but the White House clearly felt this message wasn’t getting through in the news coverage of recent days — and wanted to try and shore up Obama’s sagging terrorist-fighting credentials in the face of intense criticism from Republicans.
So, this speech was All About Obama. Offered nothing new, was long on finger wagging.
BTW, NJ.com has perhaps the silliest story
That’s from their web front page (story here). But, I guess the NJ Devils did rather terrorize the Florida Panthers, at least on the score sheet.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
The conservatives always seem to think that the tiny proportion of Americans murdered by people they are politically opposed to deserve more sympathy that do the other 15000 Americans who are murdered each year
The right wing religious fundamentalists that killed in San Bernadino were given all of the publicity and fear mingering that they so desired
When Dylan Roof killed Blavks in a church after praying with them he was a “troubled loner” not a right wing terrorist
When radical Islam was financed by the USA to fight COMMUNISM!!! No one thought what would happen after communism fell apart
“The right wing religious fundamentalists that killed in….” Oh boy, Johnny’s getting desperate. You mean Islamic fundamentalists killed in… Nice try, Johnny, but you’re going to have to do way better than that.