The ISIS Adviser — Obama entertains a bizarre hypothetical

(WSJ) He's a better speechwriter than his speechwriters, a better political director than his political director, and to hear President Obama tell it--or, to be precise, to hear the New York Times retell others' retelling of Obama's telling it--he's a better terrorist than the terrorists:

If he had been "an adviser to ISIS," Mr. Obama added, he would not have killed the hostages but released them and pinned notes on their chests saying, "Stay out of here; this is none of your business." Such a move, he speculated, might have undercut support for military intervention.

Perhaps the president wishes he had pinned such a note to the chests of the journalists with whom he purportedly shared this brainstorm last Wednesday afternoon. "Although three New York Times columnists and an editorial writer were among those invited," the Times reports, "this account is drawn from people unaffiliated with The Times, some of whom insisted on anonymity because they were not supposed to share details of the conversations." The Times report doesn't name any of the attendees, but the Puffington Host's Michael Calderone does.

As comical as it is for the president of the United States to imagine himself giving political advice to a terrorist army, Obama's musings are also revealing. He imputes to the Islamic State the objective of forestalling U.S. military intervention. It understates matters considerably to observe that there is no obvious reason to suppose that is so.

On the other hand, there is every reason to think that Obama had a strong aversion to military intervention in Iraq (and now Syria). ISIS' putative goals are his palpable wish.

More...