President Obama is not worried about a new CNN poll that shows only 32 percent of Americans support his ongoing fight against Islamic State terrorists, according to the White House.
During the White House press briefing today, press secretary Josh Earnest told Breitbart News that Obama’s military operation was “complicated and complex,” but that he would consider other ways to make his fight more efficient.
“I think what the president’s foremost concern in this regard is not poll numbers but is actually the need to protect the national security interests of the United States both here at home and around the world,” Earnest replied.
Earnest insisted Obama would not use American combat ground troops for a large scale ground war in Iraq, but added Obama was willing to “order special operations raids where necessary” to take out ISIS leaders.
He also asserted that Obama was “ramping up” assistance to fighters in Iraq, including AT-4 anti-tank weapons.
When asked about recent reports showing that ISIS was actually gaining ground in Syria, Earnest said that they were “isolated reports.”
“It’s a little harder to measure this inside of Syria, we don’t have the same kind of cooperative ground force that we do inside of Iraq,” he said.
He added that in other areas of Syria, there were reports that ISIS was being driven out by Syrian fighters back by Obama’s military coalition.