Know whats going on, everything can change. Its a packed sunday, im chuck todd. Joining me to provide insight and analysis are nbcs joe scarboroughboro, Malika Henderson of the washington post, andrea michelle, andrew liter, buzzfeeds john stanton and amy walter of the political report. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, this is meet the press. And good morning. Obviously its a pretty big honor for me to be sitting in this chair as the 12th moderator of this program following in the footsteps of the likes of tim russert and, of course, david gregory. As you can see, were making a few changes around here. As i like to say, were living in a house as we remodel it, so the program in this studio will continue to evolve over the coming months. But what better way to start off my first show than with an exclusive sitdown with the president of the United States. To say its been a long, hot summer for president obama is quite an understatement. The brutal rise of isis in iraq and syria, and their execution of two american journalists triggered usair strikes in iraq. The president invited criticism when he made this frank admission. We dont have a strategy yet. More criticism came when he went golfing shortly after condemning james foleys murder. All this contributing to the sense the world is spinning out of the president s control. At home the president s Approval Ratings hit alltime lows and Many Democrats are desperate to distance themselves from the white house. All this hanging over his head, yesterday i sat down with the president in the cabinet room of the white house. Mr. President , welcome to your 12th appearance on meet the press. Great to see you. Thanks for doing this. Start with a very basic question, are you preparing the country to go back to war . Im preparing the country to make sure we deal with a threat from isil. Keep in mind, this is something we know how to do. Weve been dealing with terrorist threats for quite some time. This administration has dismantled al qaeda and isil. Isil poses a broader threat because of its territorial am bigs in iraq and syrisyria. The good news is coming back from the meeting, the entire International Community understands this is something that has to be dealt with. So what i have done over the last several months is first and foremost make sure weve got eyes on the problem, that we shifted resources, intelligence, reconnaissance, did an assessment on the ground. The second step was to make sure that we protected american personnel, our embassies, our consulates. That included taking airstrikes to ensure that towns like erbil werent overrun, Critical Infrastructure like the dam and were protected and able to engage in humanitarian missions that saved lives. Next, we have to get an Iraqi Government in place. Im optimistic next week we should be able to get that done. And i will then meet with congressional leaders on tuesday. On wednesday ill make a speech and describe what our game plan is going to be Going Forward. But this is not going to be an announcement about u. S. Ground troops. This is not the equivalent of the iraq war. What this is is similar to the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns that weve been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years. The good news is because of american leadership, we have, i believe, a broadbased coalition internationally and regionally to be able to deal with the problem. What are you asking of the American People. Youre giving a speech. Thats the type of thing, i assume youre preparing the country for something. What are you asking them . I want American People to understand the nature of the threat and how were going to deal with it and have confidence well be able to deal with it. Youre giving that speech the day before the 13th anniversary of 9 11. Right. I want everybody to understand that we have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from isil. Thats not what this is about. What its about is an organization, if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms, to attract more foreign fighters including from areas like europe who have europeans who have visas and can travel to the United States unimpeded, that over time that can be a serious threat to the homeland so. What im going to be asking the American People to understand is, number one, this is a serious threat. Number two, we have the capacity to deal with it. Here is how were going to deal with it. I am going to be asking congress to make sure that they understand and support what our plan is. And its going to require some resources, i suspect, above what we are currently doing. This is asking congress for a vote, authorization of your strategy. This is not what does that mean . Define that. Im confident i have authorization i need to protect the American People. Im always going to do whats necessary to protect the American People. I do think its important for congress to understand what the plan is, to debate it. Thats why weve been consulting with congress throughout. This speech will allow congress, i think, to understand very clearly and very specifically what it is that we are doing, but also what were not doing. Were not looking at sending in hundreds of thousands of american troops. We are going to be as part of an International Coalition carrying out airstrikes in support of work on the ground by iraqi troops, kurdish troops. We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them so that they can start retaking territory that isil had taken over. What i want people to understand, though, is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of isil, we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, were going to shrink the territory they control. Ultimately were going to defeat them. Long way. Long way from when you described them as a jv team. Was it bad intelligence or misjudgment. Keep in mind, i wasnt specifically refer to isil. I said that regionally there were a whole series of organizations that were focused primarily locally, werent focused on the homeland. I think a lot of us when we think about terrorism, the model is Osama Bin Laden and 9 11. And the point i was you dont believe these people not yet, but they can evolve. I was very specific at that time. What i said was not every regional terrorist organization is automatically a threat to us that would call for a major offensive. Our goal should not be to think that we can occupy every country where theres a terrorist organization. You have not said the word syria so far in our conversation. Obviously if youre going to defeat isis, youve used much stronger language during the week on your trip to wales, youve got to go to syria in some form or another. Youve ruled out boots on the ground. Im curious, have you simply ruled them out for domestic reasons or is there another reason for ruling out boots on the ground. Your own guys have said you cant defeat isis with airstrikes alone. Youre absolutely right about that. You also cannot over the longterm or even the medium term by dealing with this problem by having United States serially occupy various countries all around the middle east. We dont have the resources. Its put enormous strains on our military. And at some point we leave and then things blow up again. With iraq. Weve got to have a more sustainable strategy which means the boots on the ground have to be iraqi. In syria, the boots on the ground have to be syrian. Who . Well, we have a Free Syrian Army and moderate opposition that we have steadily been working with, that we have vetted. They have been on the defensive, not just from isil but the assad regime. The strategy both for iraq and for syria is that we will hunt down isil members and assets wherever they are. I will reserve the right to always protect the American People and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are. But in terms of controlling territory, were going to have to develop a moderate sunni opposition that can control territory and that we can work with. The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground i think would be a profound mistake. I want to be very clear and very explicit about that. I got a somewhat snarky email from a casual viewer who said, the United States gives a lot of military aid to saudi arabia. Its about time they use it. What do you say to that . I think its absolutely true were going to need sunni states to step up. Not just saudi arabia, our partners like jordan, united arab emirates, turkey. They need to be involved. This is their neighborhood. The dangers posed are more directed at them right now than they are us. The good news is i think for perhaps the first time you have absolute clarity that the problem for sunni states in the region, many of whom are allies, is not simply iran, its not simply a sunni shia issue, sunni extremism as represented by isil is the biggest danger that they face right now. Assad, essentially putting aside that priority that assad must go because isis is a more direct threat. You know, the reason were in this situation is because assad brutalized his people and specifically brutalized a sunni population that is the majority in syria. Its going to be hard for us to attract sunnis to fight against isil in this area if they think were doing it on behalf of assad. So our attitude towards assad continues to be through his actions, through using chemical weapons on his own people, dropping barrel bombs that kill innocent children that he has foregone legitimacy. But when it comes to our policy and the coalition were putting together, our focus specifically is on isil. Part one of my interview there. Some of you might have noted the president hadnt mentioned syria at all in my questions, he had mentioned it but hadnt said whether he took military action. Let me start with you, former head of the counterterrorism center. That is a president now getting briefing from your successor now and that believes those briefings. He believes they are a threat regionally. I dont think they see this as a homeland threat to the same degree that they should. You think hes downplaying the 9 11 threat too much. I think they can from the homeland. Organizations before, al qaeda and pakistan, it has to include the offense. That has to be in syria. You cant get around that. Thats the long pole on the tent. Saudi arabia, brought that up, wants moderate sunni, john kerry traveling there all this week. Is that going to happen . Its going to take a while. You cant totally roll back. You cant roll back what happened for three years. Saudis and others in the region are very upset, angry, they dont trust this president to go after assad because he didnt. He is basically saying hes outlining a war against isil in iraq, based on an iraqi army that has yet to be approved effective at all. So if youre only going to fight them in iraq, degrade them, syria, with the syrian army we let down for three years, we have not armed them to their needs, how does that work . Its a strategy. Its the clearest strategy. This was an incredible interview in that hes laying it out point by point. This is a long way from i dont have a strategy yet. Hes got the strategy. The question now is will it work . We refer to it as isis, Obama Administration says isil. The last s stands for syria, the last l they dont want to stand for syria. Joe, hes going to give a speech, American Public. What does he need to say, do you think, that will rally American Public to his strategy . I think he laid it out pretty well. You have to remember we look at the polls, six months ago, three months ago, the American Public said they didnt want to get involved, they didnt want a hyper active policy. Were an exhausted nation. I think the president is taking a very reasoned measured action. You think hes too i dont think hes been poll driven enough for a lot of Democratic Senators who this past week started breaking and suddenly sounding a lot more like john mccain. Yes, they are. Than you would expect Democratic Senators to sound. But we obsess over things like the jv team, which i obsess over. We all do. The brown suit. I dont have a strategy yet. The American People arent there yet. Its about safety. Its about security. Again, this president is taking a fairly measured approach and thats not where democrats are but thats where a lot of conservatives are. This vote in congress. Hes asking for a vote. Its interesting, not authorization he says but he wants them to basically thumbsup or thumbs down on the plan. Thats what hes asking for. He talked about a buyin. He didnt specifically say authorization. He said he had that buyin is funding. Exactly. He talked a little about resources. Thats exactly right. I was on the hill last week and it looks like this congress is looking at this next two weeks where they are on the hill as sort of a lame duck period, right, in trying to do the bare minimum. That might be what he faces Going Forward. Hes also facing a congress that might not want to go forward. Whats happening in october. Interesting, do they really want to use september to debate. They have scheduled hearings for the 16th of september. Then theres a vote, bill nelson has to put forward a bill on this authorization. We now know what our september will be about, about isis, abroad and here. Thank you andrea and michael for being here. My National Security gurus are sticking around. A lot more from the president s interview. Taking heat for action on immigration. Youll hear why he tries to explain politics wasnt behind it. Then theres ebola. He says the u. S. Has no point but to take charge. Theres a process it mutates, and then it could be a serious danger to the United States. [ male announcer ] ours was the first modern airliner, revolutionary by every standard. And that became our passion. To always build something better, airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel. That redefine comfort and connect the world like never before. After all, you cant turn dreams into airplanes unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. Unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. Dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future. You. Thank you for being my hero and my dad. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance could be one of them. If youre a current or former military member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. If energy could come from anything . Or if power could go anywhere . Or if light could seek out the dark . What would happen if that happens . Anything. And welcome back. This mornings New York Times says this. Given the worlds weakness on ebola, the United States needs to take the lead. In the second part of my exclusive interview with president obama, i asked him about that as well as his decision to delay executive action on immigration until after the election. Immigration. You made a decision to delay any executive action until after the election. What do you tell the person thats going to get deported before the election that this decision was essentially made in your hopes of saving a Democratic Senate. Well, thats not the reason. A couple things i want to say about immigration. Number one, i have been consistent about why this is important. The country is going to be better off if we have an immigration system that works, that has Strong Border security, that has streamlined our Legal Immigration system, so the best and the brightest who want to stay here and invest in here and create jobs here can do so, that families can be unified and that a system where millions of people who are here in many cases for a decade or more, who have american kids, who are neighbors, oftentimes our friends, that they have a path to get legal by paying taxes and getting aboveboard, paying a fine, learning english if they have to. So the good news is we have bipartisan support for that. We have a senate bill that would accomplish that. The House Republicans refuse to do it. What i said to them was, if you do not act on something thats so common sense youve got labor, business, evangelicals, law enforcement, folks across the board supporting it, then im going to look for all the legal authorities i have to act. I want to make sure we get it right. I want to make sure that all the ts are crossed. Dont play politics. Looks like Election Year politics. Not only do i want to make sure ts are crossed and is are dotted. Here is the other thing, chuck, and im being honest now, about the politics of it. This problem with unaccompanied children that we saw a couple weeks ago, where you had from Central America a surge of kids who were showing up at the border got a lot of attention, and a lot of americans started thinking weve got this Immigration Crisis on our hands. What i want to do, when i take executive action, i want to make sure its sustainable. If the public is not behind you, youre not taking it. Sounds a little like youre concerned the public wouldnt support what you did. What im saying is im going to act because its the right thing for the country, but its going to be more sustainable and more effective if the public understands what the facts are on immigration, what wev