What are Obama's options?: Other views

Amy Davidson,The New Yorker, on Twitter: “ ‘Freedom is more powerful than fear’ was President Obama’s strongest line. The discussion of military options was the least clear part of the speech.”

Marco Rubio, CNN’s State of the Union: “It’s important that the president begin to outline how (ISIL fighters) are going to be defeated. And airstrikes alone aren’t going to do it. ... Apart from airstrikes, there must be a ground force put together to confront them. And it must be a ground force made up primarily of Sunni Arabs from the region, including Iraqis and Syrians, but also a contribution of troops from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt.”

Ted Cruz,in Des Moines: “If I am elected president, we will utterly destroy ISIL. We won’t weaken them. We won’t degrade them. ... We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. We will arm the Kurds. We will do everything necessary so that every militant on the face of the earth will know if you go and join ISIL, if you wage jihad and declare war on America, you are signing your death warrant.”

Jeb Bush, ABC’s This Week: “Carpet bombing is not a strategy. ... We need to (train and arm) a local force that can destroy ISIL as well as bring about regime change (in Syria). We need to be much more serious about creating a strategy to take (ISIL) out. ... The director of the FBI has made it clear that there are hundreds of cases that they’re monitoring. And we should redouble our efforts in that regard. We don’t have to target the religion. We just have to target those that have co-opted the religion and make sure that we’re fully aware of the radicalizations taking place, not just here but all around the world. ... If the FBI knows that someone’s in our country and they’re tracking them, (the suspects) shouldn’t be able to get guns. ... But the no-fly list is a much broader list. It’s not an accurate list to be able to use for restricting gun rights for law-abiding citizens. If you’re tracking someone who you believe may be a terrorist, of course they shouldn’t get guns.”

Donald Trump, CBS’ Face the Nation: “There can be profiling. If (the San Bernardino neighbors) thought there was something wrong with that group ... and they didn’t want to call the police because they didn’t want to be profiling, I think that’s pretty bad. ... A lot of people are dead right now. ... I’m not playing on fears. I don’t want to play on fears. I understand the whole world. ... And I have Muslim friends who are great people. And by the way, they tell me, there’s a big problem. I’m not playing on fears. I’m playing on common sense.”

Ben Carson,Fox News: “There’s nobody running who has a great deal of international experience except for Hillary Clinton. And you see where that has led. So that’s not necessarily the thing that has to count, you have to look at a person’s lifetime experiences. ... I’ve probably had the most experience making critical life-and-death decisions, probably far more 2 a.m. calls than anybody else. ... And let’s let the American people decide whether that is the right combination.”

Hillary Clinton, Brooking Institution, Saban Forum: “Technology is a disruptive force. ... ISIL is an exponential force right now ... and that’s why it requires us to bring together governments and high-tech experts to figure out how we disrupt them.”

Bernie Sanders,on Twitter: “We cannot and should not be trapped in perpetual warfare in the Middle East.”

James S. Robbins, USATODAY.com, “Obama is misreading the national mood. Americans are not afraid or terrorized; they are angry and frustrated. The president’s more-of-the-same strategy has failed and will likely continue to fail. One thing is certain, the president will not solve this problem in his remaining year in office. The task will fall to his successor.

Ian Tuttle,National Review: “Something within Islam is causing this; in fact, there might actually be something called (gulp) ‘radical Islam.’ And we ought to say so. That does not entail ‘declaring war against a religion,’ or condemning the many Muslims who adhere to something peaceable. But until we identify the religious conviction at the heart of Islamic terrorism, we’ll continue to wage an ultimately futile war.”