A shooting that killed 14 people has led President Obama to address the nation from the Oval Office for the first time in five years.
In the speech Sunday evening, the president is expected to lay out his approach to terrorism and keeping Americans safe — charged topics in the current political environment since they involve questions about gun control and combatting the Islamic State’s major aggressions in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.
The White House has said Obama will also give an update on the investigation into the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting, where a couple suspected of being motivated by the Islamic State killed 14 people and injured 21 others at a holiday party last Wednesday.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday morning that viewers can expect to hear from Obama what the government is doing to keep the country safe and that he may call on Congress to take action as well.
“The president understands the country is very concerned about this issue, and I think what you’ll hear from him is a discussion about what the government is doing to ensure our highest priority,” Lynch said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But I think what you’ll hear the president say is to call on the American people to not give into fear.”
But urging bravery in the face of the mass shooting may be the only common ground that Democratic and Republican politicians share when it comes to how to respond to the tragedy.
Democrats have called for tighter gun control laws, with Senate Democrats putting forward two provisions in a reconciliation bill last week that got voted down by Republicans.
Republicans, who have criticized Obama for not appearing to have a stronger strategy to defeat the Islamic State, urged the president to take a more hawkish approach and pledge to put troops on the ground in Iraq.
“For God’s sake, Mr. President, create a strategy to go in and destroy the caliphate,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on “Meet the Press.”
“I believe the president needs to be stronger in his condemnation of the radical terrorism that we’re seeing now in our homeland,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said on Fox News. “We need to take this fight to ISIL, that’s our enemy.”
Obama’s last Oval Office address was in August 2010 to mark the end of U.S. combat in Iraq.
