President Barack Obama's speech on defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) wasn't much of a stem-winder, and that's what's really needed to stir the public, political scientist Larry Sabato told Fox News.
Appearing Thursday on Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto," Sabato said that speeches by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor, John F. Kennedy during the Bay of Pigs or George W. Bush after 9/11 still move people when they watch them years later.
Though there isn't the same dramatic moment right now, Sabato admitted, the very brutality of ISIS should be reason enough to appeal to the nation's emotions.
Special: Find Out Everything You Need to Know About the Rise of ISIS — Click Here
Obama's speech on Wednesday fell in the middle of a three-day conference on "extremism," focusing mainly on radical Islamic terrorism, though the administration refuses to use the term Islamic, saying it would legitimize how the terrorists are trying to portray themselves.
"So the president had an opportunity to do something like that, and instead he conducted an academic seminar," said Sabato, head of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Now, as an academic, I'm not opposed to academic seminars, but I think it's a waste of presidential rhetorical power, especially in a circumstance like this."
Other presidents have held national addresses to bring their cases to the American public, whereas Obama spoke to a room of people who mostly agree with him, Sabato said.
"The president almost dulled the senses," he said. "Now, he was trying to educate people about this conflict and the difference between ISIS and the general Muslim community … That's fine. But at a moment like this, … you could be speaking for history, the way FDR was and JFK was and George W. Bush was."
Special: ISIS: Everything you need to know about the rise of the militant group — Click Here
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.