After Saturday’s horrible nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, two very different responses pervaded throughout the popular discourse. The first stems from presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, whose hateful rhetoric assumed the suspect had ties to radical Islamic terrorists and condemned President Barack Obama for not saying so. The second came from Obama himself, who initially ignored Trump’s volatility while describing the deadly shooting as “an act of terror and hate.” Obama’s statement was far more measured and remained so until Tuesday, when he delivered a 30-minute speech decrying Trump and his fellow Republican’s continued insistence on using the words “radical Islam.”
“The main contribution some of my friends on the other side of the aisle had made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase ‘radical Islam,'” Obama quipped. “‘That’s the key,’ they tell us. ‘We can’t beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists.’ What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is ‘none of the above.'”
Interestingly, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — who received Obama’s endorsement last week — had no problem saying “radical Islam” and similar descriptors during a CNN interview on Monday morning. Yet Clinton apparently changed her tune throughout the course of the day, instead choosing to focus on her renewed call for an assault weapons ban instead. Obama discussed this during Tuesday’s remarks, but not before continuing his rebuttal of Trump and his party’s criticisms.
“Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was president, I’ve been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As president, I’ve repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions. There’s not been a moment in my seven and a half years as president where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label ‘radical Islam.'”
Obama then praised the accomplishments of his administration and their allies, noting that there was no confusion about their efforts against terrorism — least of all “the thousands of terrorists we’ve taken off the battlefield.” All of this wrapped up the half hour speech, in which the president never mentioned Trump by name, though he did ridicule the “yapping” of “politicians who tweet.”
Earlier in the speech, the president identified specific strategies that had been, and were being pursued by American military and intelligence forces following the Orlando shooting. You can watch Obama’s full remarks below, courtesy of ABC News.
(Via CNN, Associated Press and ABC News)