LIVE UPDATES: Obama Addresses ISIS Threat
Liveblog begins at 9 pm ET/8 pm CST
You can watch the full address here.
President Obama addressed the nation tonight in response to growing concerns regarding the ability of the Islamic State (“ISIS”) to threaten American interests.
President Obama came out of the gate on defense:
Bin Laden reference within 30 seconds. Defensive move.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) September 11, 2014
Then attempted to draw a difference between the Islamic State and…Islam?
"No religion condones the killing of innocents,” Obama says assuring that ISIL is not Islamic
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 11, 2014
President Obama laid out his plan for U.S. involvement in the Middle East, but was careful to assure listeners that he hasn’t authorized participation in another ground war:
1. More airstrikes.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 11, 2014
2. Action in Syria.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 11, 2014
3. Increased support to anti-ISIS forces on the ground.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 11, 2014
His insistence that American troops would not relive the Bush-era Iraqi conflict was met with skepticism:
No mention of what rebel groups in Syria we are partnering with as the "boots on the ground" or how we'll fast track years-long process.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) September 11, 2014
Again, Obama makes promise he can not, should not keep: no boots on the ground. Bush paralysis.
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) September 11, 2014
— jon gabriel (@exjon) September 10, 2014
President Obama was careful to draw a distinction between a traditional military mobilization, and our current mission (as he described it) to roll back ISIL. He emphasized that “America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners,” and described how our allies will work with American troops to carry out surveillance and attack missions, ensure intelligence collaboration, and distribute humanitarian aid. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel overseas over the next few weeks to drum up more support for the coalition force.
WaPo’s The Fix provided a decent topical breakdown although its contents were much more optimistic than most of the reactions currently simmering on both primetime cable news shows and Twitter:
Professional punditry aside, comment of the night goes to JP, who said what everyone is thinking:
Nailed it.
You can read the full text of President Obama’s speech (as prepared for delivery) here.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
You think I’m going to be watching this?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Someone had to fall on the grenade, walls 🙂
I salute you, and you have earned 100 brownie points [no pun intended].
Actually, it was pretty funny, setting aside the seriousness of the subject for a moment.
It was kind of a deja vu all over again; obamullah morphed into Baghdad Bob.
30-Seconds to bin Laden?! He almost always exceeds my expectations: I figured he would take 3 to 5-minutes before bin Laden. Let’s see…Has he used President Bush either directly or inference 37-times by now?
we’re watching “American Pickers” just to help drive his rating down.
Operation Triple Bogie begins, eh?
From “divot” to “pivot” in less than 10 minutes!
Nick Searcy tweeted it “Operation Iraqi Mulligan”.
or maybe we should call it “Operation Triple Bogus” instead?
This must have been incredibly painful for the POTUS or the batteries in the TOTUS were running low, as this was probably the shortest speech ever.
Seeing a lot of people saying that they don’t know any more now than they did 12 hours ago. Agree?
That 3 a.m. call came.
Obama answered, “Present!”
Hey, apparently it’s his go-to response, and got him through Harvard Law.
doesn’t the koran call for the killing of innocents…oops, i mean ‘infidels’ ?
In North Africa there was a city of approximately 50,000 called FEZ. Moslem invaders surrounded the city and demanded the citizens in the primarily Christian city submit to Allah. They refused. All 50,000 were slaughtered (men, women and children) and to commemerate the victory the invaders dipped their round wool hats in Christian blood.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the traditional hat of the Region is called a Fez and why it is red. So, please tell all your Shriner friends.
That was my general thought.
To be more correct, the Koran forbids the killing of innocents, but then defines ALL non-Muslims and Muslims who aren’t pious enough as non-innocents, concluding that killing them is not murder.
It’s a legal/technical definition only “progressive”/leftist lawyers could love.
By this logic, the Holocaust was no big deal; the Nazis merely instituted a just capital punishment against a class of citizens collectively and legally convicted of capital crimes against the State. Women, children, non-combatants? Bah, still part of the “guilty class”, still deserving of execution.
THAT is the logical conclusion of Islamic extremists’ beliefs. That Our Glorious Leader doesn’t understand that definitions count speaks volumes.
Take the beam out of your own eye.
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant; And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
I suspect that this incredibly inspiring speech by the President will rally scores of social workers to his aid.
I saw at least seven other people who aren’t Andrea Mitchell cringe and puke out a “that was a …. solid speech” before returning to their bottles of angst wine.
OMG, Mister Prezdet…Who knew that ISIL isn’t Islamic,’Yo?
I hate to predict this but…tomorrow we’ll see a video of a female reporter beheaded. 🙁
I pray I’m wrong!
I wonder which “religion” Obama does not understand or would rather protect its followers.
Islam is an imperial ideology overlaid on religious tenets, which is spread through not assimilation but coercion (i.e. the sword). However, it does not become virulent until a minority enacts the left-wing ideology through perversion of the underlying religion.
Then there is the degenerate moral philosophy (aka “religion”) upheld by Obama and sympathetic interests. A human life evolves from conception to death. The secular religion (i.e. libertinism), popular in the West, not only condones but normalizes premeditated murder of wholly innocent human lives. Around 2 million annually in America alone. The religious doctrine is “pro-choice”, which is justified by a false myth of spontaneous conception.
On the same line of reasoning by Merlin01, Obama taking to the airwaves tonight can only magnify any plans these cretins might have to mark tomorrow. The entire world–especially the jihadists–know that Obama is a weakling. Tough talk like that can only add to the embarrassment of his administration when it is ignored…which is a given.
All indications are that the reported has already been murdered, so why not release a video on the anniversary of 9/11 just to defy the US. No risk unlike an attack any where in the world especially in America.
I for one will be vigilant and won’t take any unnecessary risks tomorrow. Be safe everyone!
Obama must be stopped from sending money and arms to non-state “rebel” groups of militants, whoever claims or is claimed to be “fighting ISIS”.
This has been going on with him for years already, and includes the illegal war in Libya for faux “humanitarian” reasons, and its consequent gun-running, as well as Obama’s previous attempt to bring us into war against Assad.
Obama keeps confounding legitimate Iraqi military with unknown people. “Already, allies are flying planes with us over Iraq, sending arms and assistance to Iraqi security forces and the Syrian opposition”.
The people he wants to fund are Islamic militants, revolutionaries, and terrorists. They are not our “partners”.
This is nuts. Obama must be stopped.
EXACTLY! We have to remember that ISIS basically got it’s start as one of these nonstate militias that Obama was funding and training in order to fight Assad in Syria. His big mistake there was not doing enough to discern exactly WHO and WHAT we were training and as a result we created something far worse than Assad. This group of extremely violent monsters (I won’t call them men) are taking over a large chunk of the Middle East and are solidifying their grip over their territory. If they aren’t stamped out hard they will be a huge threat to the region (and potentially the world) for years to come.
I nearly threw up at “cornerstone of my administration” and had to turn it off.
I “missed” the speech.
Did he draw a red line again? That worked really well last time.
The light-colored suit is Obama’s “surrender” suit, isn’t it?
When he’s seriously railing against his real enemies – Republicans, Fox, etc – he wears a dark suit.
So now official proof , there is no such thing as territorial sovereignty re Syria . Putin has just been sitting back waiting .Now he can bomb the few holdouts in Mariupol . He does not need more than the USA’s boots on the ground which is over 1000 already , plus if you add the others is up to the top estimates of a Russians in East a Ukraine .
According to the NYT , when 1000 -3 000 Russians did go in they immediately wiped out Ukrainian positions & had Ukrainian soldiers plastered onto electricity wires & immolated . No wonder Poroshenko came running .
Might has always been right – we don’t like to admit it but not much as changed since Alexander . The trick is to leave something positive or marry the local chief’s daughter .
So therefore I can’t really object to US actions .I think it would be very helpful to admit they started it by hiring proxies . Alexander The Great led every offensive himself be it against elephant armies or abseiling up cliffs .
ISIS isn’t Islamic? I think her meant to add, “at least they’re not MY Islam.” In fairness, I think he meant ISIS isn’t Islamic in the way Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t act very Christian, but in the opening of a 15 speech essentially declaring a war, our president made sure to defend Islam.
—-
Number One: We will continue to…
Number Two: We will continue to…
Number Three: We will continue to..
Number Four: We will continue to…
Doesn’t sound like a new plan to me.
He’s heard our concerns and assures us we’ll keep doing what we were already doing even though it isn’t working, mere pinpricks, but hey, his LIV supporters won’t catch on, they’ll be fist-pumping and yelling his name in every city in the US. Tomorrow, when an Obama supporting coworker or preacher ‘explains’ the wonderful things Obama said in a speech they didn’t watch.
—–
Our successes in Yemen and Somalia? What, these are now vacation spots for westerners, safe and stable? lol, yikes. More fodder for the LIVs who don’t know enough to catch this lie.
—-
America is safer than it’s ever been? If there is a terrorist attack tomorrow (09/11) against American assets anywhere in the world, Obama’s presidency is not only over, he will have established a whole new circle of political hell below the historic standard for lame ducks.
—-
A broad coalition? Nine countries committing zero troops and offering mostly material support, tech support, or lip service. Compare to Iraq 2002 when W got the unanimous approval of Congress, plus 36 countries on board providing 26,000 combat troops.
—-
“Degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL”. Typical Obama, high-sounding rhetoric that is really just weasel words. Define ‘degrade’. If they destroy one ISIS truck a month and nothing else, they are still degrading ISIS, however minorly, promise kept. Define ‘ultimately’. Were he asked 20 years from now, “hey, I thought you were gonna destroy ISIS?” “Well, I said we would… ultimately.” Ultimately is undefined. It can be any point in time between now and the end of time itself. WEASEL WORDS AGAIN.
—-
All he did tonight was acquiesce to Dem Party outcries that he at least appear to do something about ISIS, appear to give a shit, given the pounding he and they are taking in the polls two months before the midterms. All his points began with ‘we will continue’, so he doesn’t have to do much of anything beyond getting NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NYT, WP, et al, to start exaggerating successes, which they will gladly do, most of them without being asked or ordered. This gets him and his party past the midterms, speech mission accomplished. After that, I don’t think he much gives a shit what happens with ISIS and the Middle East.
Nice post, Henry. And not only all that, when Obama promises to do this, accomplish that, yada yada yada, does he realize he’s talking to the same people he told over and over, “if you like your plan, you keep your plan.. if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor..” Why in hell would anyone believe a word he says? We know without question he will outright lie to achieve political goals or avoid political problems.
why would anyone believe a word he says? only one viable reason at this point: they are an abject moron.
Leftists don’t care – to them, lies are just another tool to be used as needed.
Blacks don’t care – he’s their guy no matter what.
The parasite classes don’t care as long as federal gravy keeps flowing.
Then the rest of his supporters are just too stupid to realize they are being lied to.
“America will lead a broad coalition …” Who the hell does he think he is — Winston Churchill? He couldn’t lead a thirsty sailor across the street to a place with free beer! And all that “We will continue” bullshit … this speech was supposed to be his announcement of his plans, not fifteen minutes of “I don’t have a clue, but maybe I can blow some more smoke up your skirts!”
The morons in this country elected a cheap-jack ChiTown politician – twice – and now we’re all paying the price for their stupidity. And tomorrow is 9/11; I shudder at the possibilities.
I assumed his “broad coalition” would include Hillary, Michelle, Val, Feinstein, Mikulski, and maybe Harf.
“Obama addresses bad press over his ‘we don’t have a strategy’ admission”
There, fixed that headline for you.
He’s not actually announcing anything. He’s just pretending this is a big announcement so he can now claim he actually does, pinky swear, have a strategy to defeat ISIS.
Note, however, that nothing in this “strategy” has the slightest chance of actually, you know, defeating ISIS.
Teleprompter bullsh-t, read by a traitor.
ISIS is not Isla- *click*
If you cannot identify the enemy, you shouldn’t be asking to fight.
We elected Chance the Gardener. With the same “Peter Sellers” smirk. Sigh.
“As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
…First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.”
As I have said many times. Here’s the President’s plan, as it has always been.
The plan, give a speech. Mission Accomplished!
Nothing pleases the Muslim world more than having an American President lecture about what their religion is and isn’t.
Rather cowboy of him, in a priggish, hectoring, schoolmaster sort of way.
Rather cowboy of him, in a priggish, hectoring, schoolmaster sort of way.
In other words: typical Obama.
Now that he’s outed them, I expect al-Baghdadi to release a internet video admitting they aren’t really islamists, they just like to kill people, and islam was a handy excuse.
I can usually figure out Democrats messaging strategy. They redefine abortion as “reproductive freedom” because who is against freedom? They redefine “enhanced interrogation techniques” as torture, because who can be for torture? Democrats did an excellent job of redefining the Tea Party as extremist kooks to push its popularity down. With all of these tactics the media was complicit in helping Democrats with their media strategy.
What’s interesting is that Obama and his administration continue to call ISIS “ISIL”, but for the most part the media aren’t playing along. Looking at the links at memeorandum about Obama’s speech, I see that The New York Times refers to them as “ISIS” in two different headlines; the TIME video above uses “ISIS” in the title; CNN calls them “ISIS”, even the far left magazine Mother Jones refers to them as “ISIS”. WaPo uses “Islamic State” (which I think is what ISIS prefers to be called).
I don’t understand the administration messaging strategy and what it thinks it gains by referring to them as ISIL while almost everyone else calls them ISIS. To me, it risks confusing the public. Is that the goal?
What’s going on here? I don’t get it.
ISIS refers only to an Islamic State within Iraq and Syria. ISIL refers to the Levant of history, adding to Iraq and Syria the countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus, a little bit of Turkey, and…. Israel.
Obama’s ISIL configuration brings Israel onto the target list for the Islamic State. Thanks, Sparky.
Thanks, Henry.
Really, I just can’t watch him anymore.
I applaud those of you who have the stomach for it.
What Obama says is simply based on the results of a poll – what will get him the most votes. It has nothing to do with right or wrong.