He said everything would be fine and he did not announce any new policy ideas. The catalyst was the massacre in san bernardino. The fbi has said that the shooters were radicalized for some time. They had not found any clear overseas terror links. Why did obama choose to give the Oval Office Address with nothing new . John there are a lot of questions from a lot of sources, including democrats, who feel he is not into with the public mood. The president feels that the fear in america of Islamic State is a greater risk, in some ways, then Islamic State. You can quibble with that. I think he is speaking to what he feels about with the American Opinion and try to calm it down. Mark he went around the media filter and he is confident. He spoke to the American People directly with the prime time address. The filter is positive powerful. The speeches criticized by republicans, with no new ideas, and its treated like a partisan volley, not like the president of the United States unify the coun