The Presidential Address

In his nation-wide address last night President Obama outlined the course of action he will take against the terrorist group known as ISIS. I thought that the President's speech was overall a good one, he convinced me that increasing air strikes on ISIS is a good course of action. I also think he did a remarkably good job of appealing to a wide variety of viewers; for the patriots he emphasized how ISIS has beheaded American journalists and is planning to attack the U.S., but for the humanitarians he emphasized the terrible atrocities ISIS has committed, such as killing children and raping and murdering women. He also made sure to highlight that there will be no ground war, which I think is critical because it reassured the American population that this will not become another war like in Afghanistan and Iraq; there will only be about 400 additional troops sent over who will be acting in strictly an advisory role to the Iraqi military.

However, although I thought the President did a good job appealing to all audiences, I wish he had been a little more specific instead of oversimplifying his entire argument. However, I think this was necessary because the general American public has a very limited knowledge of the middle east so he had to talk about everything in broad terms instead of outlining his actual plan. It also sense for him to give a speech like this because his goal is not to educate the American public, he’s attempting to win support for increased military action against ISIS, which he accomplished by appealing to people’s humanitarianism and patriotism. Overall, I thought his speech was very well crafted and effective, and he convinced me that increasing air strikes against ISIS is the right course of action.