Obama's Feckless Oval Office Address on the San Bernadino Terror Attack

When a President of the United States takes to the Oval Office to address the nation following a major event, Americans expect that something new and significant will be conveyed.  They expect a plan of action and reassurance. That was the case for President Kennedy's address during the Cuban Missile Crisis, or when George H. W. Bush announced the start of the first Gulf War, or when Reagan addressed America following the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, and surely when George W. Bush addressed the nation following 9/11.

The setting is intentionally formal. The President is seated at his work desk; with flags flanking him on both sides. Obama's Sunday night address was indeed in the oval office. However, instead of at the desk he stood in front of a podium, awkwardly placed in front of the desk; giving the appearance of just another press conference, or one of his speeches on the road. What's worse,  he conveyed nothing new about the terrorist attack in San Bernadino.  Personally, I think he chose the podium over the desk because he really didn't have anything new or important to say, No real plan of action.  No reassurances. He simply, once again, blamed inaction on gun control; even though none of the proposed gun control measures would have prevented San Bernadino. Essentially, it was a stay the course speech on what he, in his own mind, thinks is working to defeat ISIS and terrorism.

To me and others, his speech merely reinforced the belief that this President is simply marking time until he can get out of office and hand the problem over to his successor.  In the meantime, there may be more San Bernadino's in our future due to his inaction.

References:

List of Oval Office addresses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oval_Office_addresses

Obama speech: Reassurances about ISIS fall flat in Oval Office address: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/12/06/obama-speech-reassurances-about-isis-fall-flat-in-oval-office-address.html

President Obama's speech about ISIS: What they're saying: http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/12/president_obamas_speech_about_isis_what_theyre_saying.html

Oval Office address, RIP? - POLITICO:  http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/oval-office-address-rip-216509