Few people would rank David Cameron among the greats. But the British prime minister looks like Winston Churchill in comparison to President Obama.
Less than 24 hours after the president confessed “we have no strategy” to deal with Islamic State terrorists, Prime Minister Cameron raised his nation’s threat assessment to its second-highest level, and talked about cracking down on travel to Britain from the Middle East.
No doubt he has in mind the 500 British jihadists who have fought with ISIS abroad, many of whom are now returning home.
He called an attack on Britain “highly likely” and defined the threat clearly. “The root cause of this threat to our security is clear,” he said. “It is a poisonous ideology of Islamic extremism.”
He went on to say it “cannot be solved simply by dealing with perceived grievances over Western foreign policy” and it cannot be “appeased.”
Where Obama was meandering and hesitant, Cameron was confident and robust. Unlike the president, the PM didn’t inform the enemy what he’s not going to do. His words offered no comfort to a foe looking for confusion and weakness.
Nor did he flinch from warning the solution will not be quick and easy: “We are in the midst of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology that I believe we will be fighting for years.”
David Cameron, in short, did what the free world is longing for President Obama to do: speak like a leader.
When he began his term in office, Obama famously gave the Queen of England an iPod containing his speeches. Maybe he should ask her for one with Cameron’s.