President Barack Obama's stark admission on Thursday that the White House had no strategy to combat the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria has both left lawmakers fuming and the public scratching their heads, Politico reported.
"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Obama had said Thursday, referring to the thorny problem of whether to attack ISIS inside Syria's borders. "We don't have a strategy yet."
"We need to make sure we've got clear plans, and we're developing them. At that point I will consult with Congress and make sure their voices are heard."
However, his remarks received sharp criticism from House and Senate members, with one congressman comparing his performance to the bumbling sheriff's deputy Barney Fife from "The Andy Griffith Show," UK MailOnline reported.
Following Obama's candid statement, a former senior aide to a retired defense secretary told MailOnline that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are "seeing red" and "spitting nails."
"They're losing confidence in their mission," said the long-time Pentagon insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "When the president doesn't know what direction to point people in, all his advisers can do is guess at what he wants. That's not good."
Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert told Fox News on Thursday that Obama articulated "a pitiful foreign policy, and Barney Fife is in charge."
"I don't know where he's getting his information," said Gohmert. "Maybe it's CIA Director [John] Brennan who said earlier this year that 'No, these guys don't want a caliphate.' He must have his head buried in a hole somewhere on the first green."
Meanwhile, Karl Rove, a deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush White House, said Thursday night on Fox News that he was "appalled" by Obama's "we don't have a strategy" moment, according to UK MailOnline.
"He was warned about the role that ISIS was playing inside Syria, and he has had all that time to develop a strategy about what to do about ISIS in Syria - and he still doesn't," Rove said.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said on CNN that Obama's appearance Thursday "was an odd press conference at the very best, but to have a press conference to say we don't have a strategy was really shocking given the severity of the threat."
While the public grappled with Obama's startling remarks, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, attempted to do some damage control on Twitter, saying Obama "was explicit - as he has been in the past - about the comprehensive strategy that we'll use to confront" ISIS.
Although the Obama administration wouldn't go back on the president's choice of words, Earnest told reporters on Friday that he was concerned about "the way it was being reported" by news outlets.
