House Speaker John Boehner knows that he has called on President Barack Obama to give a more “comprehensive strategy” to fight ISIS. A lot.
Boehner has made the request so often that on Monday night his office released a 30 second spoof of himself via YouTube, hyper cutting — or placing rapid fire short clips of a video using similar wording — seven instances he asked that very question.
The video comes in light of Obama saying Monday at the G-7 conference in Germany that, “We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of Iraqis.”
The President noted on Monday that his top advisors are continuing to evaluate the best way to assist the Iraqi military, restating the U.S. commitment to training Iraqi troops. CNN reported Monday that Obama stated the gains made by ISIS are only short-term and could be reversed through increased U.S. assistance.
The video although set to a quirky track of music, is clearly a political jab and ends on a more serious note with Boehner narrating the phrase, “Hope is not a strategy,” while the screen directs viewers to the Speaker’s website.
Boehner also took to social media earlier in the day Monday, tweeting a emoticon of a person shrugging (“¯_(?)_/¯ “) to encapsulate the President’s lack of strategy.
The House Speaker wasn’t the only one to criticize Obama’s comments. The Republican National Committee also commented Monday, “What has President Obama been doing for the last 10 months?” and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Arizona voiced his opinion on the Senate floor Monday.
“One can wonder, one has to wonder, whether this President just wants to wait out the next year and a half and basically do nothing to stop this genocide, bloodletting, horrible things that are happening throughout the Middle East,” McCain said.
Obama noted Monday that he would share the final strategy regarding training Iraqi troops with the American public as soon as there is one.