Obama calls criticism of US strategy against IS legitimate

The president also pushed back on his critics who say that the United States should have a more aggressive approach to fighting ISIS.

In an interview with NPR News released Monday, Obama called Islamic State a “virulent, nasty organization”, but stressed that the worst damage the militants could do to the United States is if people change their way of life and values. “This is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us institutionally or in a systematic way”.

“There is going to be potential anger, frustration, fear – some of it justified but just misdirected”.

In an interview taped Friday and relesased this weekend with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, President Obama says “the approach we are taking” to defeat The Islamic State “is one that is based on the best council, the best advice of our top military, top diplomatic teams”. “We are pounding IS’ core structure in Syria and Iraq”, he said. The fact of the matter is that in a big country like this there is always going to be folks who are frustrated, don’t like the direction of the country, are concerned about the president. I think we are – when I talk to my daughters and their friends, I think they are more tolerant, more welcoming of people who are different than them, more sophisticated about different cultures and what’s happening around the world.

I think really what’s changed over the last several years is the pervasiveness of smart phones and the visuals that suddenly have sparked a conversation about how we can deal with it. And although it’s uncomfortable sometimes I actually think that over the long term it’s how, in Dr. King’s word, you get a disinfectant by applying some light to it, and people see, you know, what?

A top Democrat on Sunday criticized the pace of the Obama administration’s war against the Islamic State, saying the US needs to “change the dynamic on the ground”. He makes “no apologies”, he said, for wanting to target terror groups “appropriately and in a way that is consistent with American values”.

A national survey by the Pew Research Center found 37 percent of respondents approve of the way Obama is handling terrorism, while 57 percent disapprove, the lowest rating he has received on the issue.

FILE – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a forum in Aiken, S.C., December 12, 2015.

During the interview, Schiff said he supported a policy that would use social media as part of a visa screening process.

He acknowledged the opposition from Republicans, but said that even if a Republican succeeds him, by that point there will be a growing realization that the problem is real and that responding to it represents opportunities that create jobs and save consumer money. “But it is also important for us to keep things in perspective, and this is not an organization that can destroy the United States”.

But he’s resisted calls to fundamentally alter his strategy against ISIS, which has relied on airstrikes and small numbers of special operations forces to take out key ISIS leaders.