Obama News Conference
I just watched the president’s news conference and the early media coverage afterward. I wonder if the press is simply willfully ignorant. Obama’s strategy is very clear to me:
1. get the Iraqi government in place;
2. get the neighboring Sunni countries away from ISIS and towards more moderate coalition goals;
3. for now, protect US interests, which includes Baghdad and Irbil due to the embassy and consulate locations, and attack ISIS in that area when opportunities arise;
4. consider more widespread military action when items 1, 2, and 3 are in place.
And what do we hear from the media: OMG Obama doesn’t have a strategy!!
Meanwhile, this is vintage Obama. People always want more action, sooner, and more aggressively put forth. This began in his first campaign and has not ceased. He always proceeds one step at a time, and does not go forward until the step being worked on is in place. But he generally gets it done, just not on other people’s more frantic time line.
I also noticed that Obama mentioned that a big part of Syria is a no man’s land now (my term not his), no longer controlled by Assad but controlled by ISIS. That sounded to me like a loophole that he was setting up. If that territory is no longer controlled by the government of Syria, does the US need permission from them to bomb there? That bit about Syria really struck me.
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