![\"President](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/credit-cnn.jpg\")
<\/a>Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma sound\u00aded pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial Sun\u00adday night in his Oval Office address. [Cred\u00adit: CNN<\/span>]<\/p><\/div>\u201cWe have a pat\u00adtern now of mass shoot\u00adings in this coun\u00adtry that has no par\u00adal\u00adlel any\u00adwhere else in the world. And there are some steps we could take \u2026 to improve the odds that they don\u2019t hap\u00adpen as fre\u00adquent\u00adly: com\u00admon-sense gun safe\u00adty laws, stronger back\u00adground checks.\u201d<\/em> Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma, Decem\u00adber 2<\/a>, hours after the San Bernardi\u00adno shootings\n \u201c<\/span>It is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of rad\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adiza\u00adtion, embrac\u00ading a per\u00advert\u00aded inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion of Islam that calls for war against Amer\u00adi\u00adca and the West. They had stock\u00adpiled assault weapons, ammu\u00adni\u00adtion, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of ter\u00adror\u00adism.\u201d<\/em> Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma, Decem\u00adber 6<\/a>,<\/span> on the San Bernardi\u00adno shootings.<\/p>\n Some\u00adtimes the coun\u00adtry needs a Pres\u00adi\u00addent, not a partisan.<\/p>\n In the hours after the San Bernardi\u00adno mas\u00adsacre, Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma yield\u00aded to his basest impuls\u00ades, using the hor\u00adrif\u00adic act to divide, to cast blame, to strike a moral pose and to slan\u00adder his polit\u00adi\u00adcal oppo\u00adnents, sug\u00adgest\u00ading their resis\u00adtance to his restric\u00adtive gun law pro\u00adpos\u00adals impli\u00adcat\u00aded them in the atrocities.<\/p>\n Four days lat\u00ader, a chas\u00adtened Pres\u00adi\u00addent at last acknowl\u00adedged that San Bernardi\u00adno didn\u2019t fit the \u201cpat\u00adtern of mass shoot\u00adings\u201d he had sought to politi\u00adcize. The U.S. had suf\u00adfered the dead\u00adliest ter\u00adror\u00adist attack since 9\/11, the fourth on its soil dur\u00ading his tenure. Instead of shift\u00ading blame, he tac\u00adit\u00adly con\u00adced\u00aded failure.<\/p>\n He was, in a word, presidential.<\/p>\n His state\u00adment large\u00adly shunned divi\u00adsive\u00adness, say\u00ading Amer\u00adi\u00adcans togeth\u00ader are \u201cat war with ter\u00adror\u00adists,\u201d a for\u00admu\u00adla\u00adtion favored by his pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor but one he has typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly avoid\u00aded. Indeed, he used the term \u201cter\u00adror\u201d or its cog\u00adnates 21 times in the 13-minute address, almost cer\u00adtain\u00adly a record for him.<\/p>\n He said this \u201cter\u00adror\u00adist threat has evolved into a new phase,\u201d cit\u00ading dead\u00adly attacks in Boston, Chat\u00adtanooga, San Bernardi\u00adno and Fort Hood (which he had pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly termed<\/a> work\u00adplace vio\u00adlence) as man\u00adi\u00adfes\u00adta\u00adtions of jihadism\u2019s new template.<\/p>\n He declared that he has \u201cno greater respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty than the secu\u00adri\u00adty of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan peo\u00adple\u201d and sought to assure the coun\u00adtry that he is up to that respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty. On that point, he stumbled.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Many Amer\u00adi\u00adcans are ask\u00ading whether we are con\u00adfront\u00aded by a can\u00adcer that has no imme\u00addi\u00adate cure,\u201d he said, pos\u00ading a ques\u00adtion he should have left unasked, since he had no good answer. He offered up only bro\u00admides, say\u00ading \u201cwe will over\u00adcome\u201d the ter\u00adror\u00adist threat even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly by being \u201cstrong and smart, resilient and relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n For him, that means more of the same old, same old \u2013 \u201chunt down ter\u00adror\u00adist plot\u00adters,\u201d train and equip mul\u00adti\u00adple war\u00adring fac\u00adtions in Syr\u00adia and Iraq, work with allies, and urge the \u201cinter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty\u201d to work toward \u201ccease\u00adfires and a polit\u00adi\u00adcal res\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion to the Syr\u00adi\u00adan war.\u201d All cours\u00ades he has been pur\u00adsu\u00ading, to lit\u00adtle effect.<\/p>\n He wants Con\u00adgress to pass laws to pre\u00advent peo\u00adple on no-fly lists from buy\u00ading guns (which would not have pre\u00advent\u00aded any of the ter\u00adror attacks on U.S. soil), make it hard\u00ader for peo\u00adple \u201cto buy pow\u00ader\u00adful assault weapons\u201d (the assault weapons used in San Bernardi\u00adno are banned<\/a> under Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia law), tough\u00aden screen\u00adings for peo\u00adple who come to the U.S. with\u00adout visas, and autho\u00adrize the unau\u00adtho\u00adrized war he has been wag\u00ading in Syr\u00adia and Iraq since August of last year.<\/p>\n The Pres\u00adi\u00addent, in short, has no \u201cimme\u00addi\u00adate cure\u201d for the \u201ccan\u00adcer\u201d of Islam\u00adic terrorism.<\/p>\n Like his pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsors, he will leave the strug\u00adgle unfin\u00adished. Clin\u00adton large\u00adly ignored it, stand\u00ading by as al Qae\u00adda took root in Afghanistan and con\u00adduct\u00aded an esca\u00adlat\u00ading series of attacks on U.S. over\u00adseas assets, cul\u00admi\u00adnat\u00ading in 9\/11. Bush respond\u00aded mil\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adly, ulti\u00admate\u00adly achiev\u00ading a suc\u00adcess\u00adful coun\u00adterin\u00adsur\u00adgency in Iraq, but incur\u00adring a human toll that soured the pub\u00adlic on dis\u00adpatch\u00ading ground troops to bat\u00adtle fanat\u00adi\u00adcal Muslims.<\/p>\n Oba\u00adma squan\u00addered<\/a> the gains from that coun\u00adterin\u00adsur\u00adgency by pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq, pur\u00adsued regime change \u2013 suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly in Libya, less so in Syr\u00adia \u2013 that unleashed chaos, blood\u00adshed and refugee crises on two con\u00adti\u00adnents, and foment\u00aded anti\u2011U.S. sen\u00adti\u00adment among Mus\u00adlims by using drone strikes to take out jihadist lead\u00aders, assas\u00adsi\u00adna\u00adtions that have not hob\u00adbled, much less destroyed, al Qae\u00adda and the Islam\u00adic State or deterred ter\u00adror\u00adists from attack\u00ading the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n The Pres\u00adi\u00addent is nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless \u201ccon\u00adfi\u00addent\u201d of our even\u00adtu\u00adal suc\u00adcess \u201cbecause we are on the right side of his\u00adto\u00adry.\u201d But his\u00adto\u00adry has no right or wrong sides. It is an unblink\u00ading chron\u00adi\u00adcle of recur\u00adring night\u00admares. Repres\u00adsion and war, hatred and bar\u00adbarism are durable com\u00adpo\u00adnents of the human con\u00addi\u00adtion, occur\u00adring in every age and afflict\u00ading every cul\u00adture. The world view of the devout Mus\u00adlims of the Islam\u00adic State would be very much at home in the sev\u00adenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry. Four\u00adteen cen\u00adturies of his\u00adto\u00adry have not erased their apoc\u00ada\u00adlyp\u00adtic bent and ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal ambi\u00adtions or curbed their appetite for brutality.<\/p>\n The invis\u00adi\u00adble force of his\u00adto\u00adry will not win the war against Islam\u00adic ter\u00adror\u00adism. That is up to us. The Pres\u00adi\u00addent \u2013 like his crit\u00adics<\/a> \u2013 lacks a win\u00adning strat\u00ade\u00adgy. But he has at least come to appre\u00adci\u00adate the seri\u00adous\u00adness of the moment.<\/p>\n In that respect, he has become more presidential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201c<\/span>We have a pat\u00adtern now of mass shoot\u00adings in this coun\u00adtry that has no par\u00adal\u00adlel any\u00adwhere else in the world. And there are some steps we could take \u2026 to improve the odds that they don\u2019t hap\u00adpen as fre\u00adquent\u00adly: com\u00ad\u00admon-sense \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading