The Grownups Are Back In Charge
By 
“We have the right strategy and we’re going to see it through,” Mr. Obama told reporters as he wrapped up a summit meeting with world leaders before flying to the Philippines. He has consistently said that it would take time, he noted, and he would not change that strategy simply because of domestic pressure. “What I do not do is take actions either because it is going to work politically or it is going to somehow, in the abstract, make America look tough or make me look tough.”
If he did not gratify a public hunger for retribution, or at least the language of it, the president gambled that his position was actually closer to the broader American reluctance to get entangled in another land war in the Middle East. Sending large numbers of American ground troops to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, would repeat what he sees as the error of the Iraq invasion of 2003 without solving the problem at hand.
“That would be a mistake, not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL, but because we would see a repetition of what we’ve seen before,” Mr. Obama said. Victory over terrorist groups, he said, requires local populations to reject the ideology of extremism “unless we’re prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries.”
It’s like Bill Belichick using his timeouts before the two-minute warning. In a rational universe, you wouldn’t deserve much credit for doing something so obvious, but compared to other potential decision-makers it makes you look really good. For example:
His message drew fire back in Washington, where Republicans and other critics saw it as evidence of an out-of-touch fecklessness. “Unfortunately, the president’s press conference today confirmed that he is unwilling to acknowledge his failed policies or re-evaluate his strategy moving forward,” Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, said.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, described the president’s news conference as “excuse-laden and defensive,” proving he had no resolve or strategy to defeat the Islamic State. “Never before have I seen an American president project such weakness on the global stage,” he said.
Yes, if any strategy has proven effective for preventing terrorist groups from filling stateless vacuums, it’s the SHOCK AND AWE of BOOTS ON THE GROUND showing AMERICAN RESOLVE AND CREDIBILITY. Republican foreign policy is like Mike McCarthy or Dan Quinn kicking field goals on 4th-and-goal from the 1 because YOU HAVE TO PUT THE POINTS ON THE BOARD in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, with far deadlier consequences if they’re actually in charge of the White House.