The president ends a tour of Asia with a plea to Americans to stay the course against ISIL. “So I want to be as clear as I can on this – prejudice and discrimination helps (ISIS) and undermines our national security”.
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“I think it is absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business”, Obama said. “Our way of life is stronger. We have more to offer”.
“Destroying ISIL is not only a realistic goal …” This simple statement can make us feel a little safer since, indeed, it is absurd for us to accept that it is “normal” to be bombed during a stay in a hotel or a play in a theater.
Putin “needs to go after the people who killed Russia’s citizens”, Obama said.
“We need to show global solidarity to address… the common enemy of ISIL, Daesh, some other extremists and terrorist groups”, he said. Allies in Congress and former aides from inside the Obama administration worry the president has misread Americans’ fears of a repeat of what happened in Paris on American soil.
“Fascism, communism, a First World War, a Second, a long Cold War, each and every time, we prevailed”, Obama said.
In Turkey and the Philippines last week, Obama pushed back on those proposals as un-American, drawing criticism from some who said he failed to grasp Americans’ post-Paris fears.
Driving remains the most popular method of travel in the US, and almost 47 million Americans are hitting the road for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA.
“France came under attack for what it represents, for what it stands for”, Hollande said at their joint press conference.
However, there is widespread agreement on a stricter screening process for Syrian refugees.
“The American people are right to be concerned”, Obama said Sunday. But Obama also used it to salve his own political vulnerabilities, exacerbated by sparring matches with reporters during his trip overseas last week that were poorly received at home.
“It’s time to begin a new phase and intensify and broaden our efforts to smash the would-be caliphate”, Clinton said as she called for deployments of additional USA special forces in Syria. The President will then return to Washington, where he will host French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday. “Make no mistake: We will win and groups like ISIL will lose”.
“But apparently they’re scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion”, he said. “We don’t know that yet”. “When I see a headline that says this individual who designed this plot in Paris is a ‘mastermind, ‘ he’s not a mastermind”. “This is a practical issue, not just a matter of conscience”.
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“Given the frequent focus on America’s leadership of this campaign, sometimes the contributions of our partners are overlooked”, he said.
