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Obama's two main messages from last night
President Obama's Oval Office address in
response to the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, CA didn't contain
a lot that was new, especially for political observers. But he had to
give that speech for an American public on edge (particularly because he
didn't give that kind of primetime speech after Paris). And the address
had two main messages. One, as the 2016 campaign season heads into the
final Iowa/New Hampshire sprint, don't discriminate against Muslim
Americans, because that plays right into ISIS's hands. Two, the Muslim
community needs to confront those who are using Islam in a perverted way
to harm and kill others. "Muslim Americans are our friends and our
neighbors, our co-workers, our sports heroes -- and, yes, they are our
men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our
country. We have to remember that," Obama said. But the president added,
"Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with
us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that
groups like ISIL and al Qaeda promote; to speak out against not just
acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are
incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and
human dignity." As we remarked last week, 2016 candidates -- led by
Donald Trump -- have been filling a vacuum after Paris and San
Bernardino. Obama's primetime address last night was a way to reclaim
that space.
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Source: NBC News
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