What's going on in the White House? Or It's competence, stupid.

[Tatiana]

28. I'm not going to blame the President for the SS failures.

However, what I will say is that he very rarely forces a fight over vital issues to the American public. Politics is, in many ways, a blood sport. While having someone intellectually capable (after Bush) with outstanding communication skills who kept himself above the fray worked well to get him elected, it has been anathema to pushing forward his agenda (and I believe he does have a fairly decent one). It took nearly six long years into his Presidency before he basically told the Republicans to "bring it on" and issued executive orders.

We needed that man from the get-go. We saw in the beginning that the Republican strategy was going to be to deny Obama any victory period. In this respect, we needed Obama's brains but Rahm's "brawn." Meaning, we needed someone with muscle who played hardball and could twist arms to get the necessary outcome. It is ironic to hear the President say that a group like ISIS only responds to force. The same could apply to the Republicans who have held this government hostage.

Why hasn't anyone tried to use force on them?