President Barack Obama spoke from the Oval Office Sunday to reassure the nation of his strategy and to cajole congress into more anti-terror legislation.
In just the third Oval Office address of his seven-year presidency, the president tried to reassure a nervous nation that his strategy is working, laying out the broad points, but also reminded Americans not to give into racism and fear.
The speech came three weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris, four days after a husband and wife killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a facility that helped the disabled in San Bernardino, Calif., and the same day a new CNN/ORC poll showed for the first time a majority of the country thinks the U.S. should send ground troops to Iraq or Syria to fight the Islamic State.
In the same poll, a vast majority think our military response to the group has not been aggressive enough.
The president began with the attack in San Bernardino, acknowledging it as an act of terror based on "a perverted interpretation of Islam." He checked off American successes but said "the threat has evolved."
He also tried to illustrate the fine line he and the country have walked in confronting terrorism since he took office, an approach that overall hasn't been particularly popular with either party.
"I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," Obama said.
The president then tried to remind the country of his policies to the Islamic State [Daesh], saying his administration would stop at nothing to "destroy" the terrorist organization, but that it was complicated.
"Our success won't depend on tough talk,or abandoning our values, or giving in to fear. That's what groups like [Islamic State] are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart. Resilient and relentless. And by drawing upon every aspect of American power. "
By Shawn Price
Editor's note: This article has been edited from the source material
