The Obama factor (9)

At a White House diplomatic corps reception yesterday afternoon that included France’s ambassador to the United States, President Obama spoke about the massacre in Nice. The White House has posted the text of his remarks. Obama’s remarks may be slightly more vacuous than yada yada. Referring to ISIS, he vowed that “we are going to destroy this vile terrorist organization.” Stirring words, followed by this:

And in contrast to these terrorists who only know how to kill and destroy, we’re going to win this fight by building; by never giving up on diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war; by working with partners around the world, including Muslim communities, to push back against hateful ideologies that twist and distort Islam — a religion that teaches peace and justice and compassion. We will defeat these ideologies by offering a better vision of development and economic progress, so people, especially young people, have more hope and opportunity and are less susceptible to extremism and violence in the first place. And we will continue to promote political opportunity and democracy so citizens have a say in their future.

And we will win this fight by staying true to our values…

“Staying true to our values” harks back to Obama’s hilariously mistaken exposition of Winston Churchill at his first press conference, which I wrote about in “Obama veers into the Daily Ditch.” Obama remains steadfastly unaffected by events. The song remains the same.

JOHN adds: Obama echoes the immortal words of the oft-ridiculed–but not oft enough–Frenchman:

They’ve got guns, but we’ve got flowers.

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