Ted Cruz Slams Obama’s ‘Photo-Op Foreign Policy’

Moments after President Obama spoke to the nation Wednesday night about the threat posed by the Islamic State, Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that the administration’s strategy was insufficient.

“The Obama-Clinton foreign policy has been characterized by photo-op foreign policy,” Cruz said. “What has been missing is a concrete military objective to eliminate ISIS.”

>>> What Obama Got Right—and Wrong—in His ISIS Speech

In addition to his comments on Fox News, Cruz released a statement in response to Obama’s speech:

Tonight’s speech was disappointing, but not surprising. The president’s approach to ISIS has been—and remains—fundamentally unserious.

Surely one must question anyone who holds up the nations of Somalia and Yemen as models for any kind of success—especially if he is the United States president. To this day, these nations remain hotbeds of terrorism.

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While our U.S. forces have impressively taken out individual terrorist leaders in these regions, the diplomatic and military strategies have not resulted in the destruction of the enemy. If the goal is to destroy ISIS, President Obama should not try to replicate a strategy that has not destroyed other enemies.

To defeat ISIS and keep America safe, we should not seek to create more Yemens or Somalias. Instead, we need a commander-in-chief who articulates a specific military objective tethered directly to defending U.S. national security. We did not see that tonight.

We should destroy ISIS altogether, using overwhelming airpower to ensure they cannot bring jihad to America.

>>> More: Obama’s 4-Point ISIS Strategy Explained in 3 Minutes