SENATOR EXPANDS ON WARNING ABOUT ISLAMIC STATE – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma expands on the threat from the Islamic State.  I've always thought of Inhofe as a serious guy.  From Fox25:

It is a serious warning coming from Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe as he warns of the potential of another attack on American soil. The senator sat down with Fox 25 to talk about a variety of topics, but as ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the top issue was national security.

“We're in the most dangerous position we've ever been in as a nation,” Senator Inhofe told Fox 25's Phil Cross.

“ISIS, they are really bad terrorists, they're so bad even Al Qaida is afraid of them,” Inhofe said reflecting on the recent beheading of American journalist James Foley. Beyond the beheading, Inhofe said the current terror organizations are not going to stay contained to the Middle East. “They're crazy out there and they're rapidly developing a method of blowing up a major U.S. city and people just can't believe that's happening.”

Inhofe must have some chilling inside information because that last quote is stark.  Is there anything connecting the Islamic State to nuclear weapons?  That would be the only way actually to blow up a city. 

Inhofe blames policy decisions from the Obama administration and cuts in defense spending for putting the country in what he calls a dangerous situation.

“He's [President Obama] going to have to come up with something that we're going to do because they're holding another hostage in place and the problem is, the President says all these things and he never does them,” Inhofe said.

COMMENT:  Don't assume there'll be unanimity, or anything close.  The political left, the Democratic Party left, is hardly on board.  Some on the libertarian right are also reluctant.  Even Hitler's invasion of France in May of 1940 did not move public opinion in the United States enough to build support for intervention in Europe.  Indeed, that fall, when FDR ran for a third term, he pledged he would do everything possible to keep America out of war.

The Islamic State, which seems remarkably attuned to our internal politics, will be monitoring American public opinion carefully.  The president refuses to lead.  I fear that only a severe jolt, as severe as 9-11, will truly wake us up.

August 23, 2014