Oval Office Address

Forced into a corner by his inept analysis of ISIS after a seven year failed diplomacy of nicety and a weak-kneed foreign policy of leading from behind, Obama made a very rare Oval Office address to the nation to calm America's fears about the threat of terrorism. The thirteen minute speech was remarkable for its brevity considering the gravity of the crisis America is facing. The San Bernardino shooting last week, which was clearly a terrorist attack, was the largest act of terror on the American homeland since 9/11.

Obama tried to sound forceful and militaristic, but after seven years of wimpiness he was hard to believe. He tried to sound knowledgeable by referring to his daily intel briefings, but that comment was laughable when you consider White House sources have said he has missed more than half of the briefings, and military analysts have said he puts whatever he doesn't want to hear on the shelf.

The speech actually fulfilled all of my expectations except one. Obama was lacking in anything new as far as substance, he exploited the tragedy once again as a platform for gun control, and he defended Islam. The one thing I anticipated he might have added but didn't was climate change.

He started immediately to dissect the two shooters from ISIS by saying there was no evidence of orders from ISIS or Al Qaeda directing this attack. He did identify it as an act of terror, but as always he missed the point. ISIS has openly called for "lone wolf" attacks in America. Now it is coming out from his father that Syed Farook was greatly influenced by ISIS. He didn't need specific orders, he had a general order from the Islamic terrorist group that he was following and that his wife had sworn allegiance to.

The question being asked is if he was "radicalized" by his wife or the other way around. Interesting how terminology shows up and is used. This term "radicalized" hasn't been in the common usage about terror until last week and now it's the most thrown about word all over the media. We hear about "radical Islam" all the time, but now apparently for someone to be a radical Muslim they must first become radicalized. The term itself is an attempt to draw attention away from the truth about Islam. As I've stated before, and what even the most conservative politicians and pundits don't seem to understand, is that there is no such thing as radical Islam. There is Islam by the Koran, which is what we are seeing carried out by Jihadists, and there is moderate Islam that does not live by the brutal force of the Koran. But I digress.

Obama made some striking statements. He said we have been at war with terrorists since 9/11, something he has refused to admit until now. He said that complicated events like flying into the twin towers have been reduced and the terrorist threat has evolved to simpler acts such as mass shootings. Then he referenced the Ft. Hood shooting, which up until just a few days ago had been classified as "work place violence." Remember his first comment about the San Bernardino shooting last week also suggested it may have been work place violence. I just saw, however, a comment from Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) that the government has relented and awarded the victims of Ft. Hood purple hearts and benefits. It's a great victory for our troops, but it makes me wonder since this apparently just happened, if Obama didn't approve it just so he could make the comment in his speech.

Obama called terrorism a cancer and said many people have asked if there is a cure. He answered that the threat is real and we will destroy ISIS (or ISIL as he insists on calling it). He said we will prevail by being "strong and smart." Interesting that he has finally gone beyond containing and degrading to call for terrorism's total destruction. However, his comment about being "smart" gives it away. He's told us for years that we need smart diplomacy, in other words, his plan to bring about peace by the strength of his nice personality. It hasn't worked, and considering Obama the comment "strong and smart" is contradictory.

The president then gave a four point strategy to defeat terrorism: 1, The military will continue to take out ISIS leaders, 2, We will continue to give training and equipment to Iraqi ground forces, 3, We will continue to work with allies to prevent ISIS plots, and work with Turkey to seal its border with Syria, and 4, American leadership will produce a cease fire among the Syrian forces in order to concentrate on ISIS. He once again referred to his 65 nation coalition, which at best exists only on paper, and said we need to review how we do background checks on visas.

Unless he has some plan to ratchet up the first three points, his strategy is nothing different than what he's already doing, which because of it's weak implementation is accomplishing little. It is ironic, however, that he would tell Turkey to seal their border when he refuses to do anything about our own. As for the fourth point, Putin has been thumbing his nose in Obama's face for months, and the Russians are the primary force in Syria right now. What makes Obama think he's going to have any influence on how operations in Syria are going to be conducted? Nobody is listening to him.

Obama then regurgitated his anti-gun garbage and blamed the Republican led Congress for not doing more to make it harder for people to purchase guns. He ignored the fact that many Democrats are also opposed to his attacks on the Second Amendment. He wants stronger screening for those coming into the country without a visa. Say that again? You mean like the refugees? I thought they were already being thoroughly vetted by the strictest requirements ever. And why do you have to strengthen that anyway? A foreign national without a visa can't legally purchase a gun in the United States now.

Obama took the last half of his speech to tell us what we cannot do in the War on Terror. He does not want to be drawn into another long protracted war on the ground. I think everybody agrees with that, which means go in there and bomb ISIS into oblivion. Right now 80% of all sorties we are flying are coming back with unexpended ordnance because Obama won't let them drop anything if there's the danger of one civilian being injured. You want to get serious about taking ISIS out remove the restrictions. This is another Vietnam scenario.

Further, he said, we should not turn against one another by defining this as a war of America against Islam. That's what ISIS wants, he said. No, I rather think what Obama said is what ISIS wants. If we finally wake up and realize that Islam has already declared war against the United States and we go after the terrorists wherever they are hiding including mosques and homes, we will absolutely destroy them. That's what ISIS is afraid of, and based on Muslim loving Obama's comments, he's probably afraid of it too.

He then suggested we need to enlist Muslim communities and Muslim leaders to join us in this battle. Fat chance. If he really believes that's possible he is the biggest ignoramus on earth. Actually I don't think he really believes that. He's doing all he can to defend Islam and prevent its expansion from being hindered.

He then told us that we must reject discrimination against Muslim communities, which begs the question: When and where have Americans ever discriminated on a large national or even local scale against Muslims? There is no evidence of any anti-Islamic movement or prejudice anywhere in America. In fact, we have been remarkably tolerant of Islam considering the attacks Muslims have made against America.

No, this performance was not calming or assuring. Rather, it was an insult to our intelligence. Obama has failed to understand the severity of the crisis we are in, has either failed or refused to recognize the enemy we are facing, has failed or deliberately refused to recognize the Islamic ideology we are at war with, and blindly refuses to admit that his policies have been wrong all along, and are the cause of this mess. At least he finally admitted this is a War on Terror and not just an overseas contingency problem, but he refused to link terrorism to Islam.

This address may well go down as the capstone of Obama's disastrous foreign policy.