In the latest analogy put forth by a member of the liberal media to praise President Obama, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria opined on Monday’s CNN Tonight that the President used his speech to the nation on Sunday to come across as the “cool” “fireman” who will “douse” the “flames” started by Donald Trump.
Additionally, Zakaria hailed the speech as “vintage Obama” as he conducted “an adult conversation” with the American people about ISIS and forced them to accept his ISIS strategy since “not a lot of people have come up with an alternative.”
Zakaria was set up by host Don Lemon asking him for his thoughts on the President’s speech and that the belief among Americans “that the President need[ed] to come out to address...San Bernardino, Paris, and on and on.” Specifically, he wanted to know from the Fareed Zakaria GPS host if:
[C]onsidering what Donald Trump has said, what did you think about the President's speech last night? Did he do anything to sort of negate what Donald Trump is saying to make the American people feel better? What did you think of the speech?
Smiling with glee, Zakaria exclaimed that “in some ways, it was vintage Obama” because “the way he views it, people like Donald Trump are playing with fire and he is the fireman.”
Zakaria further hyped that the President “is the guy who’s going to douse those flames” by being “cool, measured,” and “hav[ing] an adult conversation about, you know, the steps that are being taken to deal with ISIS, what we should do and what we shouldn't do.”
Following a classic liberal media tactic of insulting the American people’s intelligence, Zakaria ruled that Obama’s logic “may be too cool for some people.”
When Lemon tried to push back on the belief that the President lacked passion, Zakaria asserted that the American people could also be expecting too much from Obama when he just “want[s] to be [a] grown-up” compared to his opponents: “I think he doesn't believe he should have to jump in a mote and get hysterical when, you know, bad things happen. I think his view is that's when you want to be grown-up.”
In a move that foreign policy experts in the media like CNN’s Michael Weiss and NBC’s Richard Engel would strongly disagree with, Zakaria claimed that there’s essentially no alternative to fighting ISIS than what the Obama administration has been trying to implement:
That’s when you want to be calm and reason and certainly, for all that people are saying, as I say, with regard to his strategy, not a lot of people have come up with an alternative. There is this huge problem in Syria which is you do not have a ground force that can take and govern the territory that ISIS controls. Until you figure that out, you can — huff and puff all you want. You have to go along with the strategy that they have. Air strikes, special ops, working with locals, trying to get the Kurds — the Turks more involved. You know, for all the — if you look at Donald Trump tweets, his response to the speech was why does he keep calling it ISIL? Why doesn't he call it ISIS like everyone else? Okay, I mean, if that's your substantive critique of the speech, that tells you us you don't have an alternative.
The relevant portion of the transcript from December 7's CNN Tonight can be found below.
CNN Tonight
December 7, 2015
11:21 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: Many people have been saying that the President needs to come out to address the situation, after what happens in San Bernardino, Paris, and on and on. What did you — and considering what Donald Trump has said, what did you think about the President's speech last night? Did he do anything to sort of negate what Donald Trump is saying to make the American people feel better? What did you think of the speech?
FAREED ZAKARIA: Well, I think it was in some ways, it was vintage Obama. He is — I think the way he views it, people like Donald Trump are playing with fire and he is the fireman. He is the guy who’s doing to douse those flames. He is going be cool, measured, he's going to have an adult conversation about, you know, the steps that are being taken to deal with ISIS, what we should do and what we shouldn't do. It may be too cool for some people.
LEMON: For those that says where is the passion, he wasn't passionate enough, you say —
ZAKARIA: I think he doesn't believe he should have to jump in a mote and get hysterical when, you know, bad things happen. I think his view is that's when you want to be grown-up. That’s when you want to be calm and reason and certainly, for all that people are saying, as I say, with regard to his strategy, not a lot of people have come up with an alternative. There is this huge problem in Syria which is you do not have a ground force that can take and govern the territory that ISIS controls. Until you figure that out, you can — huff and puff all you want. You have to go along with the strategy that they have. Air strikes, special ops, working with locals, trying to get the Kurds — the Turks more involved. You know, for all the — if you look at Donald Trump tweets, his response to the speech was why does he keep calling it ISIL? Why doesn't he call it ISIS like everyone else? Okay, I mean, if that's your substantive critique of the speech, that tells you us you don't have an alternative.
