Starting off a gentle interview with United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power on Thursday's CBS This Morning, co-host Norah O'Donnell began to pitch what could have been a hardball question on the Obama administration's slow response to violence in Syria giving rise to the ISIS terrorist threat, but instead tossed out this: "When you first became ambassador, you pushed for air strikes in Syria. Now we have lawmakers on record supporting engagement in Syria. How do you see this playing out?"
No question about whether the President was wrong to not take Power's recommendation on Syria, just simply, "How do you see this playing out?"
In her next question, O'Donnell again seemed to start down the road to a tough a question, but then veered off course with another softball: "You know, you couldn't get that same coalition or that same axis to take down the Assad regime, which killed hundreds of thousands of its own people. And yet, you can now get it to defeat ISIS or try and defeat ISIS. Why is that?"
Again, no talk of the administration's failure to take action in Syria or Obama backing off his "red line" against Assad, just a vague open-ended query about why the coalition formed to fight ISIS.
In the final question to Power on combating ISIS, fill-in co-host Jeff Glor wondered: "The Journal is reporting this morning that President Obama wants to personally approve any air strikes inside Syria. What is the thinking behind that?" Power dodged: "Well, I'm not going to get into internal deliberations beyond saying that the President – this is our national security at stake, this is a very complicated operation."
The last two questions in the exchange were about the ebola outbreak in Africa:
> O'DONNELL: I know there's going to be an emergency session at the U.N. today to deal with ebola. What is not being done that you think has to be?
> GLOR: Very quickly, do you see any turning point or does it just keep getting worse?
In part, Power touted: "President Obama came out, as you know, earlier this week traveling to the CDC, announcing the deployment of 3,000 U.S. troops to set up a command center so as to get medical personnel, beds, medicine, everything you need in order to deal with this epidemic."
Neither O'Donnell nor Glor had the sound news judgement to ask Power why Obama was willing to send thousands of American ground troops to fight ebola but not ISIS.
On Monday, the morning show hosts had no problem grilling Republican Senator Rand Paul [1] about his stance on fighting ISIS.
Introducing the segment with Power on Thursday, Glor highlighted: "A CBS News/New York Times poll shows most Americans support air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But more than half oppose sending U.S. ground troops."
However, Glor skipped Obama's approval rating dropping to 40%, with only 34% of Americans approving of his handling of foreign policy. Of course, neither he nor O'Donnell dared mention Obama's unpopularity to Power.
On Wednesday, both CBS and The New York Times ignored those findings [2] from their own poll.
Here is a full transcript of the September 18 interview with Power:
7:13 AM ET
JEFF GLOR: The Senate is expected to approve a plan today to arm and train Syrian rebels to fight ISIS militants. The House passed the bill Wednesday, 273-156. The vote cut across party lines. 85 Democrats and 71 Republicans voted no. President Obama called the vote an important step in confronting the ISIS threat.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: CBS News Poll: Most Approve of Air Strike Strategy]
A CBS News/New York Times poll shows most Americans support air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But more than half oppose sending U.S. ground troops.
NORAH O'DONNELL: Secretary of State John Kerry returns to Capitol Hill this morning. He told a Senate committee Wednesday that more than 50 countries are in the U.S. coalition against ISIS. Kerry said more could join next week as world leaders come to the United Nations General Assembly.
SAMANTHA POWER: Great to be here.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Battling ISIS; UN Ambassador On Building A Coalition]
O'DONNELL: When you first became ambassador, you pushed for air strikes in Syria. Now we have lawmakers on record supporting engagement in Syria. How do you see this playing out?
POWER: Well, the American people, as the polls show and members of Congress as yesterday's vote and today's vote will show, clearly support what the President is doing in dealing with a national security imperative. While there is no threat to the homeland, as the President has said, at the present, this – we have seen with the beheadings of our young journalists and with the expansionist ambitions that ISIL has, they're intention to move everywhere they can. And we've seen what will happen to any American that crosses their path.
So the President's intention is to use our unique capabilities to support those on the ground who are fighting ISIL in Iraq, and the moderate opposition in Syria. Tomorrow Secretary Kerry will be hear in New York. You will see many of those 50 countries speaking about what they're prepared to contribute to the coalition. Showing support for the new Iraqi government, which is trying to avoid the mistakes of the last Iraqi government and be more inclusive. So more people want to fight this threat.
O'DONNELL: You know, you couldn't get that same coalition or that same axis to take down the Assad regime, which killed hundreds of thousands of its own people. And yet, you can now get it to defeat ISIS or try and defeat ISIS. Why is that?POWER: Well, without getting into the past, again that was about Syrian chemical weapons, which the President also deemed a grave threat. And you'll note, again, because of the credible threat of military force a year ago, Syria's declared chemical weapons program has been destroyed and removed. So I think right now what you're seeing is ISIL is obviously a movement that will not stop unless the international community mobilizes together to stop it.
GLOR: The Journal is reporting this morning that President Obama wants to personally approve any air strikes inside Syria. What is the thinking behind that?
POWER: Well, I'm not going to get into internal deliberations beyond saying that the President – this is our national security at stake, this is a very complicated operation. If the moderate opposition do get the support that we are seeking from Congress, we will have on the ground more professionalized troops who have been fighting ISIL for nearly a year. And that's the important ground element to the effort.
O'DONNELL: I know there's going to be an emergency session at the U.N. today to deal with ebola. What is not being done that you think has to be?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The Ebola Threat; UN Ambassador On Controlling the Virus]
POWER: So much. Let me note that this is the first emergency meeting of the Security Council on a public health issue ever.
O'DONNELL: Ever?
POWER: So this should be a wake-up call for the international community. President Obama came out, as you know, earlier this week traveling to the CDC, announcing the deployment of 3,000 U.S. troops to set up a command center so as to get medical personnel, beds, medicine, everything you need in order to deal with this epidemic. It is the worst ebola epidemic we've seen in history and the good news, though, is that we know how to stop it. But the resources the international community has put toward this to this point are woefully insufficient.
GLOR: Very quickly, do you see any turning point or does it just keep getting worse?
POWER: We have to bend the curve. We don't have an option of not bending the curve and we will.
GLOR: Samantha Power, thank you very much.
POWER: Thank you.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter. [3]