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:
Then attempted to draw a difference between the Islamic State and…Islam?
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:
His insistence that American troops would not relive the Bush-era Iraqi conflict was met with skepticism:
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.
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