ISIS is evolving; Obama is not

What happens if ISIS wins?

I know that seems absurd on countless levels. But we learned Sunday night that our military policy to address this growing threat apparently will not change.

So, taken to the extreme, what if this cancer continues to grow and we continue to use kid gloves when a iron fist is what's required?

Well, most of the Middle East and Northern Africa would become a new homeland for terrorists who seek to exert their barbaric brand of false religious philosophy across the globe.

Much of Europe would fall into the hands and influence of these radical elements and the strategic alliances that have maintained peace in that region of the world likely would erode.

The talking points this past week as parroted by the president and his former secretary of state, were liberal with the word "evolve." What that really means is that our mistaken policies have opened up new areas for these murderers and they have become much more than many believed possible.

But the irony is that as ISIS has "evolved," we remain adamant that our policies will remain in place with no evolution.

Unlike Europe or our friends and allies in the Middle East, the United States has an obvious geographic advantage in this global war.

But with porous borders and empty promises of some mythical "vetting" process, we abandon that geographic advantage and find ourselves virtual hostages.

The nation marked the 74th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack this week, and, though there is really no comparison, that anniversary teaches us how we once responded to the threats to our homeland.

If ISIS and its brethren in the terrorist community are not stopped and annihilated, the strategic alliances and allies we have long counted on may no longer exist.

In a very simplistic vision, either the forces of evil win the day or the free world rises to the challenge.

I hold no envy for the next president.

Right now, perhaps more than ever, we should be focused as a nation on rebuilding our economy. Prosperity at home should be our top priority to continue the growth of our nation.

We should rightfully be focused on health care, racial division and expansion of the freedoms and liberties that make this nation unique.

But instead our focus is security. And yet even as concerns of security dominate the discussion, apparently our national approach is simply more of the same.

In the aftermath of President Obama's national address this week, it would seem we have a unified goal -- to wipe out the forces that seek us harm.

What is woefully missing is a unified solution that is embraced with confidence and assurance of victory.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.