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Obama Utters More Empty Assurances

Prior to his latest televised address, President Barack Obama had used the Oval Office as a backdrop for televised speeches just twice. In making his third such address, Obama clearly wanted the American people to view it as something very important.

The subject matter, terrorism, was that. However, what the president said fell short of the mark.

Obama spent his time on air urging Americans not to allow the threat of terrorism to dominate our lives. He also attempted to reassure us his administration is taking effective steps against organizations such as the Islamic State.

But it is not.

Thoughtful people probably understand U.S. intelligence agencies and the military have done the excellent job protecting us that we expect from them. Here in the homeland, there have been many successes in forestalling terrorist attacks. Because of the need for secrecy, it is likely we never hear of the biggest victories against domestic terrorism.

And our men and women at arms are – when permitted by the politicians to deal with threats to us – an unfailing wall between us and those who would destroy us.

But the military has not been unleashed against Islamic terrorists for more than a decade, since our forces led a coalition that toppled the Taliban and devastated al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

That means Islamic terrorism has not just survived overseas, it has thrived. And our intelligence and homeland security services simply are not capable of preventing every attack by a foe growing more numerous and powerful by the day.

So Obama’s attempt to convince us his administration is doing everything it can against the terrorists was not believable – because it is not true.

Obama vastly underestimated the Islamic State. He seems to think restricting Americans’ right to keep and bear arms somehow will protect us. He believes it is more important to shut down coal-fired power plants than to conduct a find-and-destroy campaign against the Islamic State and other terrorist groups.

Americans are not beside ourselves with fear of terrorists. But we are worried the day will come when that may be an appropriate view. Despite what he said last night, Obama has given us ample reason for that concern.

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