The Speech - Now What?

I listened to the President's speech and was left wondering, now what?  It proved to be pretty much what I expected.  A lot of flourish with little detail.

In the President's defense, there is only so much he could tell.  For instance, the question that arose about what would happen when and if a fighter pilot is shot down over Syria or in ISIS territory.  How would we get him out before he suffered the same fate or worse than our two journalists? I'd like to think the top brass have a handle on that though it's a tough one.

What really worries me is the time line.  I know it can't be an exact, but by the time we get the troops in Iraq re-trained and the Free Syrian Army up to snuff so that there will be "boots on the ground"to help the Kurds ISIS will have had ample time to do far more damage than already done.

An aside on the Free Syrian Army that the President so blithely called inadequet because they are no more than pharmicists and technicians, I'd like to remind him it's the same stuff from which our reserves and National Guard are made and they've done an exemplary job!

What he presented is a piece meal strategy at best in a war that can't be won that way.  Every time we stall or drag our feet, Iran continues toward it's nuclear goal and ISIS towards it's goal of literally slaughtereing all who do not agree with them.

Telling us how great our economy is and how great we are does nothing toward warding off more of the jihadist aggressiveness what's more destroying them.

My feeling is he said what was written for him to say in an effort to get the country behind increased military involvement into which he has been forced.  It's not so much that we are tired of war as they constantly tell us, but that he is.  He doesn't want to deal with anything that doesn't fit into his 21st century vision for the world.  For the world, not of the world.  Because he cannot.  The world is far different than he would have it and he has trouble with that concept. His way to deal with it is to ignore it.

Unfortunately ignoring reality doesn't change it.  One can hope he gets a coalition that's willing to fight.  So far no one else, other than the Kurds, are willing to help the boots on the ground movement.  Going to the UN Security Council will do nothing but make public the ridicule and wrath of Russia and China.

What I see in all this is a struggle within himself as to whether he must follow the counsel of his advisors or continue to follow his own.  If past history is any indication he'll follow his own.  Our enemies will continue on their current paths.  Nothing will change to a meaningful degree while this President is in office short of an actual attack within the borders of the United States.

By the time a new President takes office, the world problem will be far worse than it is today.  Obama will walk away from it probably still blaming Bush.  I wonder if the new President will blame Obama six years into his/her presidency.

Unfortunately a belated blame game does no good other than to divide. Facing the issue and acting on  it in a timely manner is what is needed. The speech was nice. Unless he follows through in that timely manner, it will all have been for naught.

As a footnote, might I add Congress would do well to quit playing politics with it and also do what is required of them in the same timely manner.  Elections be damned.