GOP Rep: Obama Doesn’t Think US Is ‘Exceptional’ So He Won’t Stop ISIL

FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2010 file photo, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Smith, a member of the Judiciary Committee is one of five key representatives for appr... FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2010 file photo, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Smith, a member of the Judiciary Committee is one of five key representatives for approval of a reform of the immigration laws. (AP Photo/Drew Angerer, File) MORE LESS
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Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) this weekend lamented that President Obama is not doing enough to fight the Islamic State because he does not believe that America is “exceptional.”

“He was going to ‘degrade and destroy.’ Well, I don’t see any evidence of degrading, and I don’t see certainly any evidence of destroying, ISIS,” Smith said on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” radio program, according to audio published by Right Wing Watch.

“One might hope that he would be a little bit more responsive and a little bit more assertive and, frankly, trying to assert American power and provide weapons to individuals who are our allies, for example, or take actions to stop the atrocities that are occurring, or support other nations that are doing more than we are. But the president is doing none of these things,” Smith continued.

The congressman then blamed Obama’s approach to combatting ISIL on the way the president views the U.S.

“He’s decided, in effect, that America is not exceptional, that we don’t have a role to play in the world, and that he’s not going to be concerned about it,” Smith said. “And I think that this is actually a greater danger to our country than almost anything else, because it just encourages our opponents and frankly it demoralizes our allies.”

Smith’s comments echo recent statements made by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said last week that Obama doesn’t “love America.”

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