XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: s@l.com   
      
   This was the speech President Barack Obama never thought he’d   
   have to give.   
      
   Standing in front of the cameras in prime time, Obama — the man   
   who won the White House in part because of his opposition to the   
   Iraq War — prepared the country to get even more deeply enmeshed   
   in the violent part of the world he’s spent much of his   
   presidency trying to get out of.   
      
   More support troops and bomber jets are going to Iraq. The   
   option to start blowing things up in Syria is now officially   
   very much real. And though Obama called upon Arab nations to   
   take more responsibility for “their region,” he made clear that   
   America is not coming close to leaving the Middle East for the   
   rest of his presidency, and probably not for a bunch of future   
   presidencies either.   
      
   Then he did something he rarely does: instead of anchoring his   
   plan in a pragmatic, measured view of America’s redefined role   
   in a contemporary world, he appealed to an exceptionalist ideal:   
   “American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world,”   
   he said. “Our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden.”   
      
   That section was tacked onto the end of Obama’s short speech,   
   right after he finished laying out the four major plans of his   
   proposal to combat ISIL — making sure to land on, “so this is   
   our strategy.” It was hard not to hear an echo of George W.   
   Bush, and the vision of America as a beacon of freedom around   
   the world that he often spoke of and let shape decisions.   
      
   Obama tended to treat that approach as not caught up with   
   reality. And though he’s referred to America’s role in the world   
   as “indispensable” before, not until Wednesday night did he so   
   thoroughly embrace that grand vision of America and anchor   
   American foreign policy to it.   
      
   But ISIL brought something else out of him as he appealed to the   
   American people to stand behind him.   
      
   “It is America,” he said, that has led the fight against terror,   
   stood up to Russia, cleared out Syrian chemical weapons and has   
   led Muslim countries toward a different future.   
      
   “As Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead,” Obama   
   said. “Tonight, I ask for your support in carrying that   
   leadership forward.”   
      
   For years, Obama has been trying to shift the country to a new   
   course in the decade-plus war on terror. He’s said repeatedly   
   that he doesn’t want to “play Whac-a-Mole” by using the U.S.   
   military against every anti-American group that rears up in the   
   more chaotic parts of the world.   
      
   Wednesday night, he seemed to be saying that the U.S. will need   
   to whack another major mole before his preferred policy approach   
   can kick in.   
      
   At the same time, the president sought to reassure Americans   
   that he hasn’t suddenly become cavalier about using military   
   force. Obama compared the campaign he’s planning against ISIL   
   with U.S. efforts in other parts of the globe. “This strategy of   
   taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners   
   on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in   
   Yemen and Somalia for years,” he declared.   
      
   But the forum in which Obama spoke undercuts the notion that the   
   planned mission against ISIL is part of a strategy with drone   
   strikes in Africa or Pakistan. There have been no prime-time   
   presidential addresses on those subjects.   
      
   That's because he's a gutless cunt.   
      
   http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/speech-barack-obama-isil-   
   110847.html?ml=po_r   
      
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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