American opinion and President Barack Obama are finding themselves on different planets when it comes to fighting the Islamic State (ISIS), according to latest opinion polls.
President Obama faces sharp criticism, even from leading liberal Democrats, after the ISIS massacres in Paris last month.
One poll this week showed that 60% of Americans think the United States is at war against radical Islamic terror, a term that the President never uses. Another recent survey revealed that only 23 percent think he has a real plan to fight ISIS.
After the Paris attacks, President Obama spoke to the nation to calm fears, expressed his sympathy for the victims, his solidarity with France, offered his sympathies to France and relied on non-specific statement, such as:
We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.
His credibility sank when he told the Paris climate conference the following week that talking about global warming is an “act of defiance.”
It took two days after last week’s murders in San Bernardino before the President could suggest they “may” have been connected with terror despite evidence at the time that the attackers were Muslims, were armed to the teeth and there were links between them and radical Islam.
President Obama on Saturday, in his weekly address, finally called the massacre an “act of terror” but used it to promote his fight for gun control as a way to stop terror.
He said:
We know that the killers in San Bernardino used military-style assault weapons — weapons of war — to kill as many people as they could. It’s another tragic reminder that here in America it’s way too easy for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun….
If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun.
And so I’m calling on Congress to close this loophole, now. We may not be able to prevent every tragedy, but — at a bare minimum — we shouldn’t be making it so easy for potential terrorists or criminals to get their hands on a gun that they could use against Americans.
More revealing of his view on the war against terror are several recent comments:
We cannot respond from fear.
They’re [ISIS] a bunch of killers with good social media.
Destroying ISIL is not only a realistic goal.
The resulting opinion of Americans is loud and clear.
Even before the attack in San Bernardino attacks and one day before the Paris massacres, a Gallup poll showed that only 23 percent believe he has a credible plan to defeat ISIS.
A new Rasmussen Reports national revealed:
60% of Likely U.S. voters believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism. Just 24% share the president’s position and disagree. Sixteen percent are undecided.
Even 56% of Democrats believe America is at war with radical Islamic terrorism, a view shared by 70% of Republicans and 54% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
A staggering 92% of all voters now regard radical Islamic terrorism as a serious threat to the United States.
