You listen to this, and your first instinct - which is not wrong - is that you're listening to class mushbrained left-wing blather about how we all just need to understand each other, etc. But I think Obama's narcissism may be an even bigger factor here. Following Marie Harf's bizarre statement that we can't defeat ISIS by killing them, here comes Obama to say this:
Now in fairness to Obama, I don't think he's saying people will quit ISIS because they get offered a job at some company with a nice salary and health care. I think he's saying economic problems add to the "resentment" that makes people open to all kinds of horrible paths in life, including becoming a terrorist.
On a certain level, that's true and obviously so. But it's also irrelevant. Everyone makes choices in life that are influenced by their background and the challenges they face. That's one of the reasons you try to build a prosperous society. But once a person has become a cold-blooded savage killer, we don't wring our hands about their economic disadvantages. We stop them, with deadly force if necessary. And when gigantic groups of people are engaged in savage killings, we don't flog ourselves because our economic policies drove them to it. We just kill them, because if we don't others will end up beheaded or burned alive.
I think what's driving Obama's thinking here is his own narcissism in high gear. Remember, this is the guy who is constantly frustrated with the rest of the world because everything would work so swimmingly if only everyone would do everything according to the model that's flawless in his own mind. This is also the guy who really doesn't recognize a clear distinction between good and evil, but sees it all as relevant and figures those who do wrong are just reacting the only way they know how to the systemic flaws of society.
So he listens to these so-called "grievances" from the likes of ISIS, and his narcissism can't help but lead him to believe that hey, you know what? If it was up to him, he could solve these problems for these poor people. If the Middle East operated according to the ideals of Barack Obama, these guys would have jobs, health care, free community college . . . and they wouldn't be agitated by disagreeable foreign policy from the likes of the United States and Israel.
It's just like everything else with Obama. We only have all these problems because we've had people in charge who are not Barack Obama. Could anyone really address the "grievances" of ISIS such that they would be satisfied and stop killing people? Why yes. Barack Obama could. Oh, the backward rubes of the rest of the world probably wouldn't let him, but if you just left it up to him, he'd get it done, bro!
I think that, as much as textbook liberalism, is really why Obama says stuff like this. I don't think he's endorsing their tactics, but deep in his soul Obama thinks ISIS's grievances are justified, and the only reason they haven't been addressed is that the people in charge are inferior to Barack Obama.
