President Obama Will Deliver A Performance, But NO New Information

This might be the last great speech of his presidency.
Choose the correct suit and tie.

Barack Obama has a problem that will always be a disadvantage to him in the world of business and politics (a code word for business).  Barack Obama is way too honest for his own good.  His natural tendency is to thoughtfully consider his position and deliver his thoughts with passion.  Passion is like blood to a vampire in the world of business and politics, and as non-political as international affairs used to be, they are highly political these days, and are a primary aspect of the office of the president.

Upon adding the title president to the name Obama, president Obama had to learn how to shun his passion and adopt his poker face.  Even when you do no intend to bulldoze your enemies, business and politics demand that you maintain the threat.  Barack Obama never had to learn that game in the world of community organizing, but he is learning its importance with every day in office.  When you listen to president Obama stutter through his words, it is because he is at war with his passionate nature and the demand of political prowess.  Poker players with too much passion get swallowed up by the dog eat dog nature of the game.  Misspoken words in politics  become bullets in the gun against you, so speaking slowly is smarter than speaking incorrectly.

President Obama is learning to slow down, but usually the day after he has already shown his entire hand.  I may not be the best poker player in the world, but I recognize a player who can't hide his cards.  Unless I am mistaken, is there another hand that Obama can possibly play?  The do-nothing congress squeezed the Pentagon for a vision of the plan weeks ago.  When president Obama finally took off that tan suit and started sharing preliminary details, it sounded just like the very suggestions that everybody in this war weary nation had already suggested; build a coalition of nations in the region to take the lead on the ground offensive and provide that coalition with surveillance, air strike support and weapons for the cause.

President Obama will declare that the same darn thing that we are doing in Iraq is what we will continue doing until it is no longer working.  How far we travel into Syria will be Syria's decision in the final analysis.

So why the speech tonight?

Congress is obsessed with the pomp and circumstance of history, and historically, presidents used monumental speeches to educate a nation when limited technology demanded the formality. Radio, television and computers insure that we get up to the minute information about ISIS, and our overly passionate president has done the rest.  Congress is full of disgruntled non-presidents who relish in the opportunity to force a sitting president to feed into their narcissism. Most in congress would rather not offer input on ISIS even as they insist on congressional permission.  In reality, the president only needs congress for a military action that will last beyond 180 days.  Finding out whether he intends to proceed with or without their permission is really the only reason to tune in tonight.

......and for the show of course.

President Barack Obama is stepping before America to perform for history sake.  He might say something that very few people expected to hear, but I seriously doubt it.  What is most important tonight is HOW he delivers his message to America.  Polls have already shown over 70% support for airstrikes against ISIS, but the poll doesn't even ask about boots on the ground.  WE are all more aware of the futility of long term war in the middle east, so even suggesting boots brings instant concern of mission creep.  President Barack Obama is attempting to lead the way on how we deal with worldwide terrorism, and it all begins with his opening act performance tonight.

No one will care much about what he says, but critics will spend a day or more dissecting the manner in which tonight's speech gets delivered.  Despite the heavy stake that a growing ISIS is to the entire world, defeating them comes with political points, and politics is serious business.  President Obama's speech could be step one in the process of securing political power into the hands of Democrats concerned with losing the Senate (and maybe the White House) to Republicans. A dynamic speech and a successful military campaign against ISIS might actually excuse president Obama for pushing immigration down the road.  Ruin tonight's speech and he'll need to put ISIS on the run just to repair the damage from talking about it wrong.

If you plan to watch this Superbowl (of sorts) in order to see the game, don't bother. It's been on display since we headed to Iraq, and there is nothing that we don't already know.  Tonight is totally about the halftime show.