During a press conference detailing his administration’s strategy to destroy ISIS following several devastating terrorist attacks in Paris, President Barack Obama said he’s not interested in “pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning[.]”
Obama’s remarks came several days after ISIS attacks in Paris that killed over 120 people and injured scores of others. Friday night’s attacks on France are believed to be the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country’s history.
“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of ‘American leadership’ or ‘America winning”’ –POTUS
Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) November 16, 2015
Throughout Monday’s press conference, Obama insisted that his strategy for defeating ISIS was working and did not need to change. On Friday, just hours before the deadly Paris attacks, the president insisted in a television interview with ABC News that his administration had “contained” ISIS.
Obama’s tone during Monday’s press conference alternated between defensive and disinterested. The two-term Democratic president repeatedly insisted that his strategy was working and scoffed at demands to change his plan to confront and defeat ISIS.
“What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning or whatever other slogans they come up with that has no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people and to protect the people in the region who are getting killed and to protect our allies and people like France,” Obama said. “I’m too busy for that.”
"I’m not interested in…pursuing some notion of American leadership…or whatever other slogans they come up with" pic.twitter.com/SrCnDgNZZh
Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 16, 2015
If Obama isn't interested in "American leadership" as a slogan, why is it the title of his 2015 Natsec Strategy? https://t.co/viErGJpfrw
Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 16, 2015
To prove that he was on top of the terrorist threat, Obama noted that he regularly meets with his national security team to review and respond to ongoing threats against the U.S.
“Every few weeks I meet with my entire National Security team,” Obama told the crowd of reporters.
Towards the end of the press conference, Obama shifted away from ISIS and targeted Republicans instead. He specifically attacked Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for opposing Obama’s policy of allowing refugees from Syria to enter the U.S. The latest intelligence out of France suggests that at least one of the attackers responsible for Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris entered Europe as a refugee from Syria.
A bomber in the Paris attacks appears to have embedded himself in the flow of migrants crossing into Europe https://t.co/U91mEKqBKp
The New York Times (@nytimes) November 16, 2015
Immediately following Friday’s attacks, French President Francois Hollande announced that France would close its borders to prevent additional terrorists from slipping into the country.
