Obama Calls out ISIS Fearmongering

He argues persuasively that the media and the GOP need to stop elevating ISIS and giving them exactly what they want.

This is a great point. Remember ISIS is a terrorist organization and by definition the goal of terrorism is to terrorize. .

"What we need to do is stay the course not fear monger over refugees or rollbacks on civil liberties. "ISIL’s still not the varsity team, President Barack Obama said Sunday, but if Republicans running for president and in Congress continue to respond to attacks by playing off fears, they’re doing the terrorists’ work for them."

"A Republican reaction that’s tried to block refugees from entering the country—and members of the media whom he blamed for lacking perspective in coverage over the last week—gives into the fear like they want, helps them recruit, and lets a group of people who’d have no hope of actually defeating American forces on the battlefield win anyway."

“They’re a bunch of killers with good social media,” Obama told reporters Sunday. They are “dangerous,” he said, but, “Our way of life is stronger. We have more to offer.

"Obama stayed muted but firm during a press conference in Malaysia that wrapped up a frustrating nine-day trip abroad for the White House as it watched the political debate slip away back home. Obama used the session to outline the broad strokes of the counterterrorism strategy he’s overseen — a coalition of 65 countries responsible for 8,000 airstrikes, humanitarian aid and other actions."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/obama-isil-terrorism-fear-216130#ixzz3sEXiUMpq

Amen. Here's what I also find interesting. Obama is doubling down on the 'JV' talk. It seems part of his strategy is to not build them up. Think about the strategy with the US mass shooters were some argue one aspect of prevention is not giving them what they want.

Obama seems to be doing something like this with ISIS. He's dismissive rather than apocalyptic. This is part of the strategy where Obama and Kerry refer to them as Daesh thereby robbing them of their Islamic aspect-which is what they sell to new recruits.

Obama is clearly playing head-games with them:

"Letting that happen, Obama said, or letting politicians get away with reactions like proposing a religious test for entry — as he several times condemned Republican presidential candidates for doing — is the essence of giving in."

“They can’t beat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorize us into being afraid, into changing our patterns of behavior, into abandoning our allies and partners into retreating from the world,” Obama said. “As president I will not let that happen.”

"The man behind the attacks, Obama said at another point, is “not a mastermind. He found a few other vicious people, got their hands on some fairly conventional weapons, and sadly it turns out if you’re willing to die, you can kill a lot of people."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/obama-isil-terrorism-fear-216130#ixzz3sEZOGBF6

This is like goading a psychopath. Not genuflecting in fear and terror but pointing out how weak and fragile and inadequate he really is.

Interestingly this was how Nicole Kidman's character in the new movie Secret in Their Eyes brought out the rapist-murderer. Stopped him from being roughed up in a police interrogation and said Not him, he could never do this. Then the psychopath attacked her right on the spot. 

http://www.fandango.com/secretintheireyes_184831/movieoverview

I really like what the President says next. He's not afraid of their operations. Let's not give into their fantasy that they're doing anything important.

"Obama said he understands why Americans are feeling afraid, but “I want to be very clear about this: I am not afraid that ISIL will beat us because of their operations.”

"In addition to hunting down terrorists, in addition to effective intelligence, and in addition to missile strikes, and in addition to cutting off financing and all the other things that we're doing, the most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid; to not elevate them; to somehow buy into their fantasy that they’re doing something important," Obama said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/obama-isil-terrorism-fear-216130#ixzz3sEcoNVCT

Never have we needed No Drama Obama more than now. With so much heat and so little light, we need some Obama cool. 

The way to defeat terrorists is not to let them terrorize us.