Allaying the fears of Americans as they begin the holiday season, President Barack Obama has asserted that the country will prevail with its current strategy to defeat ISIS which, as he put it, may be “nasty” and “virulent” but it is “not an organisation that can destroy the United States”.
“We are pounding ISIS’s core structure in Syria and Iraq. We have put together a coalition that is increasingly effective. We have seen ISIl lose about 40 per cent of its populated territory in the region,” he said in an interview to NPR (National
Public Radio), adding: “I am confident that we are going to prevail.”
While acknowledging that ISIS does pose a “serious challenge” after having “gained a foothold in ungoverned spaces effectively in Syria and parts of western Iraq”, he said in the same breath that it is important to keep things in perspective.
“This is not an organisation that can destroy the United States. This is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us institutionally or in a systematic way, he said, even while conceding that ISIS “can hurt our people and our families”.
“The most damage they can do, though, is if they start changing how we live and what our values are,” he said, adding: “Part of my message over the next 14 months or 13 months that I remain in office is to just make sure that we remember who we are and make sure that our resilience, our values, our unity are maintained. If we do that then ISIS will be defeated.”
Obama, who faces a high disapproval rating of his handling of ISIS in several polls, has been trying to reassure Americans that the extremist group does not pose an “existential threat” to the United States.
In the interview, Obama also accused Republican presidential front-runner of “exploiting” the fears of Americans about the economy and society. Speaking of “potential anger, frustration, fear” among blue-collar Americans, he said: “I think somebody like Mr Trump is taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign.”
Obama obliquely brought up the “birther” issue that the Republican had brought up against him and also touched on “specific strains in the Republican party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, etc., which unfortunately is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials”.
“But that’s not to suggest that everybody who objects to my policies may not have perfectly good reasons for it,” Obama added, noting: “If you are living in a town that historically has relied on coal and you see coal jobs diminishing, you probably are going to be more susceptible to the argument that I’ve been wiping out the economy in your area.”
While pointing out that he was “elected twice by decent majorities”, Obama told the interviewer: “So the fact of the matter is that in a big country like this there is always going to be folks who are frustrated, don’t like the direction of the country, are concerned about the president. Some of them may not like my policies, some of them may just not like how I walk, or my big ears or, you know.”