The Islamic State does not pose mortal danger to the existence of the United States, President Obama said in a interview Monday warning Americans against overreaction to the Syria-based terror group.
“It is also important for us to keep things in perspective, and this is not an organization that can destroy the United States,” Obama said in a year-end interview with National Public Radio aired Monday morning. “This is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us institutionally or in a systematic way.”
“But they can hurt us, and they can hurt our people and our families,” Obama added in the interview with “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep. “So I understand why people are worried.”
NPR is airing the interview in four installments over the week ending Dec. 28.
In a warning that seems aimed at calming fears and offsetting rhetoric by Republican presidential candidates and other lawmakers, Obama argued terrorists achieve their aims if Americans change their practices and values.
“The most damage they can do, though, is if they start changing how we live and what our values are,” the president said.
“Part of my message over the next 14 months or 13 months that I am — remain in office is to just make sure that we remember who we are and make sure that our resilience, our values, our unity are maintained. If we do that then ISIL will be defeated.”
Obama said he would tell his successor “that it is important not just to shoot but to aim,” in fighting the Islamic State. “Make sure that you are making your best judgments based on data, intelligence, the information that’s coming from your commanders and folks on the ground, and you’re not being swayed by politics,” Obama said.
Obama attributed economic challenges faced by working class men in particular for what he called misdirected “anger, frustration, fear” that Donald Trump “is taking advantage of” in a presidential campaign critics say is fueled by racist, xenophobic appeals.
Obama touted the recent Paris climate deal as an important acheivement. He ripped the Republican Party as “perhaps literally the only major party in the developed world that is still engaging in climate denial.”
The president also faulted campus protestors around the country for efforts to stop the expression of ideas they dispute.
“Feel free to disagree with somebody, but don’t try to just shut them up,” he said. “If somebody doesn’t believe in affirmative action, they may disagree — you may disagree with them. I disagree with them, but have an argument with them.”
“What I don’t want is a situation in which particular points of view that are presented respectfully and reasonably are shut down, and we have seen that sometimes happen,” Obama said.
