Recent terrorist attacks push Obama to reassess, and defend, his strategy

President Obama had made nine public statements after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, but late Friday afternoon, after the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., he decided that would not be enough.

So he instructed his team to begin preparing for a national address that he would deliver Sunday night — remarks he would tinker with even after he ushered several entertainment luminaries out of the East Room and on their way to the Kennedy Center, 21/2 hours before he began speaking on live television.

Two recent attacks connected to the Islamic State — one in Paris last month and a mass shooting in San Bernardino less than a week ago — have put the country on edge and the administration on the defensive. The president has been forced to reevaluate, or at least reassert, his approach to conflict in the Middle East that many Americans now see as an immediate threat to their own security.

Read the full article at The Washington Post.