A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
President Obama spoke for approximately 15 minutes Sunday evening, presenting in 1,900 words his policy to destroy ISIS (that’s impossible, but containment is an attainable objective), and explaining why our reaction to terrorist acts should not go down certain roads.
The Flesch-Kincaid reading level was grade 10.5, one to two grades more difficult than most of his speeches. That may reflect the complexity of the subject, an attempt to present more serious prose, or simply the lack of time for the speechwriters to smooth the syntax to the usual standard.
Obama did not quantify the level of terrorism in the United States, thus failing to provide an objective measure of risk. He merely said:
The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won’t depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values or giving into fear. That’s what groups like ISIL are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless. And by drawing upon every aspect of American power.
That’s true, but it would be much stronger with supporting data. News reports of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks focus on the details of those attacks, sometimes in a recklessly sensational fashion, but do not provide the information necessary to place those attacks in context so that Americans can accurately assess the risk of being killed or injured in a terrorist attack. Obama rejected the opportunity to present that information, a mistake in my opinion.
He also spent too little time explaining the psychology of terrorism and fear. Here’s how to keep them from messing with our heads was missing from the speech.
He did provide a decent summary of how terrorist attacks have changed since the 9/11 attacks in 2001:
Our nation has been at war with terrorists since Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11. In the process, we’ve hardened our defenses, from airports, to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas and worked around the clock to keep us safe.
Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas, disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing Osama Bin Laden, and decimating Al Qaeda’s leadership.
Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. As we’ve become better at preventing complex multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.
His antepenultimate paragraph asserted American exceptionalism. That won’t be sufficient to satisfy his Republican critics, but it will be more than sufficient to infuriate friends and foes abroad as an unwarranted, and arrogant, assertion of American moral superiority and a claim that God is on our side:
My fellow Americans, I am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a belief in human dignity that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law. Even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps I and future presidents must take to keep our country safe. Let’s make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Let’s not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. That we have always met challenges, whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks, by coming together around our common ideals as one nation and one people.
There is no need for our President to assert American exceptionalism if America conducts itself exceptionally well.
The speech will not mollify his critics. Nothing can do that. We’ll find out in the few days whether it provides some reassurance for Americans unduly unsettled by Paris and San Bernardino.