Sadly, President Obama's speech today, as regarding the savage execution of James Foley, was milquetoast.
In a nod to multilateralism, he articulated his desire for a "common effort" with America's allies to stop ISIS--albeit with no specific vision.
He declared that the terror group that beheaded an American journalist "has no place in the twenty-first century," as if his merely saying as much made it so.
He described ISIS's ideology as "bankrupt," as if that means that it could not possibly do much more harm. (Some of us would assert that the Nazis' ideology was similarly bankrupt; but that did not prevent the Nazis from murdering upwards of six million innocents between 1939 and 1945.)
Oh, and he declared that ISIS (or ISIL) is destined to "fail," because--wait for the platitude--"the world is won by those who build and not destroy, and the world is shaped by people like Jim Foley."
On the plus side, American airstrikes continued in northern Iraq today. I have heard it reported, variously, that there were either 14 or 15 such airstrikes; which is roughly double the typical amount. And that is a very good thing.
But I do believe that perception is very important; especially among a people who believe in the significance of the "strong horse," vis-à-vis the "weak horse." So I would have much preferred that president Obama had pledged to ensure that ISIS will be utterly crushed, by whatever means necessary--not merely contained, or rolled back, but crushed--however, regrettably, he said no such thing.
