Moments after Barack Obama delivered a primetime address aimed at easing Americans’ fears in the wake of last week’s terrorist attack in California, top Republicans condemned the president’s speech as insufficient and lacking a sense of urgency in the fight against the Islamic State. Unusual that it took four days from the attack to respond and even more odd that somehow the attack on our soil is proof his policies are working.
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“President Obama is telling people to not give into the fear”, said Hani Rustom.
“We will defeat ISIS but we can not do so by continuing the current approach. One must wonder who has contained who”, Doug Watts said.
“President Obama has finally been forced to abandon the political fantasy he has perpetuated for years that the threat of terrorism was receding”, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush wrote on Facebook.
‘We need to remove the self-imposed constraints President Obama has placed on our intelligence community and military, and we need to put in place an aggressive strategy to defeat ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism as I have proposed’.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another 2016 contender, said Obama’s strategy “is not enough”. He also said the US will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting IS on the ground. We have always met challenges – whether war or depression; natural disasters or terrorist attacks – by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people.
“Let me be clear: disarming more law-abiding citizens will not stop mass murderers and terrorists”, Senator Rand Paul, who is also running for president, said. He called for an end of immigration and refugees from countries with a large ISIS presence.
“The threat from terrorism is real but we will overcome it”, Obama said.
“The notion that a radical jihadist who is on a no-fly list is going to walk into a local gun shop to purchase a gun is absurd”, Rubio said.
She also said the USA must “dismantle the global infrastructure of terror”, including their access to money.
“We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq and Syria”.
But Obama, speaking in a much less impassioned tone than French President Francois Hollande used after the Paris attacks when he vowed to make war on IS, said there was no evidence the California assault was directed by a militant group overseas or part of a broader conspiracy at home. “Further, as we destroy ISIS, it is essential that we do not allow fear and division to undermine the constitutional rights that make us a free people”.
He renewed his call for action on gun safety: Attorney General Loretta Lynchhinted on NBC News’ Meet The Press on Sunday that the president would devote some of his speech to calling for new gun restrictions, and while ISIS consumed the bulk of the speech, Obama did call for gun safety reform.
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He criticized what he said was a large percentage of sorties that “came back without dropping their ordnances because there was such a concern about making sure there were not civilian casualties”.
