Obama on ISIS: "They’re not an existential threat to us"

[PartySick 174,543]

As part of his trip to Argentina, President Obama co-hosted a press conference yesterday with President Mauricio Macri, and a reporter asked about the “optics” of Obama continuing with his schedule in the wake of the terrorist attack in Brussels. The American leader’s response raised some eyebrows.

“Groups like ISIL can’t destroy us, they can’t defeat us. They don’t produce anything. They’re not an existential threat to us. They are vicious killers and murderers who perverted one of the world’s great religions.

“And their primary power, in addition to killing innocent lives, is to strike fear in our societies, to disrupt our societies, so that the effect cascades from an explosion or an attack by a semi-automatic rifle.”

ISIS is obviously dangerous and capable of deadly acts of terrorism, but to see these terrorists as an existential threat to our entire country is ridiculous. Not to put too fine a point on this, but the United States is a profoundly strong country, with the largest economy and largest military on the planet. ISIS, meanwhile, is a death cult with guns, suicide vests, and delusions of grandeur packaged in an effective online media operation.

X

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I put this in the society tag because I feel terrorism is more of a human issue than a political one. It's about how we react to violence and fear mongering and whether we let ourselves become irrational, hateful, and cold towards our Muslim brothers and sisters based on the actions of a few people who're trying to disrupt our lives through meaningless violence. Obama is right, for obvious reasons, but more so, he's not feeding ISIS like some others are. He's not trying to ban Islam or close our borders because he knows those things will only feed ISIS' message. They want to convince the impoverished to fight for them. They want you to turn away refugees because that makes them bitter and easier to radicalize. They want you to call for violence against Muslim people because that gives their propaganda the evidence it needs.

The only way to fight them is to love and be accepting. Offer a hand to the people they're trying to make pick up guns. That's how we beat them.

[President Biden 5,898]

But Ted Cruz was gonna carpet bomb them 

 

 

guess maybe not this time lol 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my sarcasm lolololol

[RadioIsOurs 13,876]

But it is a threat when people will vote for Trump and the whole nation is against Muslims 

[holy scheisse 23,074]

26 minutes ago, LavendarBlonde said:

But it is a threat when people will vote for Trump and the whole nation is against Muslims 

Hillary or Bernie will crush that sucker 

[AIex 3,102]

they will be when (God forbid) Trump takes over @Obama

[JustAnotherDay 8,402]

1 hour ago, LavendarBlonde said:

But it is a threat when people will vote for Trump and the whole nation is against Muslims 

I honestly don't think Trump can win. I feel like most democrats understand that no matter who wins the nomination they need to vote to stop any republican candidate. And their are a lot of republicans who won't vote/ vote for a democrat if Trump gets the nomination. For instance, my grandparents who are ultra-conservatives have said they would rather have Hillary then trump.

[Melech 9,900]

Well US is not in Europe. Here we are afraid. Like it can happen any moment that an attack happens. 

[Morphine Prince 109,986]

This will just push more people to vote for Trump. 

 

[Whispering 18,865]

2 hours ago, Morphine Prince said:

This will just push more people to vote for Trump. 

 

That was what I thought when I heard this statement, as well. Way to make it harder for a democrat, Obama. 

The US State Department has issued travel warnings for all of Europe and that is extremely rare. 

I fear these words will come back to haunt him. 

[lego 44,165]

3 hours ago, Morphine Prince said:

This will just push more people to vote for Trump. 

 

 

9 minutes ago, Whispering said:

That was what I thought when I heard this statement, as well. Way to make it harder for a democrat, Obama. 

The US State Department has issued travel warnings for all of Europe and that is extremely rare. 

I fear these words will come back to haunt him. 

 

What exactly is wrong/incorrect with what he said?

Was he suppose to incite more fear like Republicans do?

[Whispering 18,865]

7 minutes ago, YourSweet666 said:

What exactly is wrong/incorrect with what he said?

Was he suppose to incite more fear like Republicans do?

People are scared and worried. When people are scared, they gravitate towards leaders who are showing strength and reassuring them. The more Obama makes statements such as these, the more that people will associate Obama with weakness or ignoring the issues in general. In an election year, the current President's actions and words can have a great deal of influence on how people see the candidates from the party of the current President. 

[PartySick 174,543]

5 minutes ago, Whispering said:

When people are scared, they gravitate towards leaders who are showing strength and reassuring them.

Imo "they are not an existential threat" is more reassuring than "we need to spy and close the borders and arm ourselves"

[lego 44,165]

1 minute ago, Whispering said:

People are scared and worried. When people are scared, they gravitate towards leaders who are showing strength and reassuring them. The more Obama makes statements such as these, the more that people will associate Obama with weakness or ignoring the issues in general. In an election year, the current President's actions and words can have a great deal of influence on how people see the candidates from the party of the current President. 

 

But he's trying to calm everyone down, there's no benefit in panicking.

and this part

"Groups like ISIL can’t destroy us, they can’t defeat us." - is reassuring them.

I don't get how is that seen as weakness? If people expect him to talk about nukes...idk

If he had to make a statement, he couldn't have said it any other way.

 

[Whispering 18,865]

12 minutes ago, PartySick said:

Imo "they are not an existential threat" is more reassuring than "we need to spy and close the borders and arm ourselves"

You may feel that way, but millions of people feel differently. They want action, they want someone who is taking this seriously as a potential threat, because they feel that it is. 

[lego 44,165]

2 minutes ago, PartySick said:

Imo "they are not an existential threat" is more reassuring than "we need to spy and close the borders and arm ourselves"

 

Trump talked about nukes, closing borders, Cruz talked about carpet bombing and now recently about close surveillance of muslim neighbourhoods. If people are stupid enough to vote for them based on that rhetoric idk what to say.