The president s remanrks come a day after he huddled with his National Security team inside the white house situation room. His advisers updating im hn evidence suggesting the killers in this weeks San Bernardino shooting massacre were radicalized before they gunned down and killed 14 people. Today the father of one of the shoot es Syed Rizwan Farook admitted to an italian newspaper his son shared the ideology of the ason j leader al baghdadi. Can the president reassure he has a plan to restrdestroy isis keep us safe . An uphill battle for the president. Only 38 of americans right now approve of how the president is handling terrorism. That down six points from our poll back in february. Were covering the historic address like no other network can. Our team of correspondents, analysts and guests from acrosses ka croscross the country and around the world are standing by. Lets begin our coverage with our chief washington correspondent, jake tapper. The president has a huge mission tonight to reassure the American People there is a strategy to destroy isis. Yeah, you cited the number, the disapproval number of people when it comes to president obamas handling of terrorism. Fighting terrorism. Its even worse when theyre asked about how hes handling isis. 33 approve. 64 disapprove. When americans are asked what is a serious threat to the United States, isis is rated by more americans as a serious threat than any other issue, iran or any other group, 89 say its a serious issue. So the president and his administration know this is something that the American People are really concerned about, really worried about, and i think there is in this address this evening almost an implicit acknowledgement that the remarks the president has made so far, whether after the paris attacks or whether after the attacks in San Bernardino this week, all of which are terrorist attacks, have been inadequate, that his response has been off the cuff to a small audience in terms of people watching, the pool sprays, his events day to day but there needs to be an event, a serious event, a serious moment. This is only the third time hell be speaking addressing the nation from the oval office and in these remarks, there will be, one assumes, none of the calls that hes made for the American People to have some perspective, insistence that isis doesnt pose an existential threat to the United States. The president , his staffers needs to appear resolute, determined to defeat isis, determined to call upon moderate muslims to drown autotout the v of extremism. He has to move away from this notion that isis has been contained in iraq and syria. Well, look, president obama and the rest of individuals who look at the statistics can say, yes, you know, actually fatty foods pose a greater threat to the health and wellbeing of the American People than isis does but thats not what the American People want to hear. The American People want to hear that this threat will be defeated and that everything is being done to combat it and remember, wolf, after the attacks in paris, the president and his National Security team and the Intelligence Community said they knew of no Credible Threats against the United States, and literally days later, two individuals from california, one of them originally from pakistan, radicalized, pledging allegiance to isis, carried out the worst massacre in the United States since newtown. Lets bring in our chief National Correspondent john king and chief political analyst gloria borger. The road blocks for the president , though, given some of the criticism he has received and its been enormous, are pretty significant tonight. Sure. I think hes got a skeptical public right now. I mean, as our poll shows by the way, our poll was taken before the events in San Bernardino. I think if you looked at our poll today, it would be worse for the president i would presume. But 68 say were not the u. S. Military response to isis has not been aggressive enough. And i think the problem for the president is that, perhaps, his National Security team did not know of any Credible Threats and that frightens people more because if they didnt know, the question is, why didnt they know, and what can you do about this doityourself jihadis that were seeing right now who are inspired by what they read on the internet or something far, far away who are living currently in this country . People dont see it, and thats the question, thats the question the American People want answered from the president , which is how can you change your strategy to fight this kind of terror to keep us safer . Its interesting the setting for tonights address from the oval office, john. Hes only done it twice before, in august of 2010 when he announced the end of combat operations in iraq, and in june of 2010 when the gulf of Mexico Oil Spill o cared. Its going to be a little different tonight. Not only is it going it be from the oval office but they have a lectern set up in there. Hes not going to sit behind the desk in the oval office. Hes going to be standing and speaking from behind the lectern. The white house released this picture earlier today to underscore what the president is going to do. You have the president ial seal brought into the oval office. The oval office, the majesty and powercypresidency. The president needs a pageturning moment. Its a major policy conversation the president has to have with his own administration within the administration and then with the United States congress and you cannot you cannot ignore the politics of the moment because of where we are on the calendar. Hes in the final year of his presidency. Personal approval numbers, Job Performance numbers are down. Hes trying to tell the American People you can have confidence in me at a time especially when it comes to isis but even on his overall Job Performance the American People dont have a great deal of confidence in him at the moment and hes trying to do this at a time we have a president ial campaign that is quite vocal and quite loud and most is on the republican side where they say this president doesnt have a clue. Thats the republican argue ms, that from the moment he said isis was the jv, he has underestimated them and not rallied either the American People or the resources of the United States government or they would argue the resources of the Global Community to deal with this problem. So the president very much needs a pageturning moment from a policy perspective, can tell you tonight, again, we done want to overemphasize this because this is a serious issue. When you talk to democrats privately, theyre nervous about the current political mood in the country and the impact on them. Thats secondary but you cannot ignore it. A young member of the house of representatives on my show on friday, somebody from the San Francisco area. Not somebody inclined to disagree with the president. And he distanced himself from the president on tv about the issue of whether or not the president takes seriously enough the threat of homegrown terrorists. That is a liberal democrat from the San Francisco area. So the fear the democrats are feeling as john mentioned is very real. Hillary clinton did it again today. Shes been very careful. Shes tried to be supportive of the president. Again today she says we need a more aggressive policy which is to say the one we have isnt aggressive enough. Its the democrats who went to the white house and said we think we need a president ial moment here, we think we need an address. This came from pressure within the Democratic Party to the president saying, you know, youve been a little offhanded about this, youve been a little defensive about this, you need to kind of set the stage and tell the American People all right, guys. Stay with us. Were not going anywhere. Much more of cnns special coverage right after a quick break. Some cash back cards love to overcomplicate things. Like limiting where you earn bonus cash back. Why put up with that . But the quicksilver card from capital one likes to keep it simple. Real simple. Im talking easy likea walkinthepark, nothingtoworryabout, manthatfeelsgood simple. Quicksilver earns you unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase, everywhere. Its a simple question. Whats in your wallet . Karl, dont you have fryeah, so . Ng over . It stinks in here. Youve got to wash this whole room are you kidding . Wash it . Lets wash it with febreze. For all the things you cant wash, use. Febreze fabric refresher whoa hey mrs. 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Youre going to get much more analysis, much more reporting on whats going on, but first lets take a look back at a moment to a now rather awkward interview from january 2014 when president obama compared isis to a jv sports team. Saying, and im quoting him the analogy we use around here sometimes and i think it is accurate is if a jv team puts on a lakers uniform, that doesnt make them kobe bryant. Heres how the president s response has evolved since then. As ive said, rooting out a cancer like isil will not be quick, or easy, but im confident that we can and we will. We will degrade and ultimately destroy isil. In iraq, in syria, american leadership, including our military power is stopping isils advance. And we have contained them. They have not gained ground in iraq, and in syria, it theyll come in, theyll leave. Destroying isil is not only a realistic goal, were going to get it done. Russias going to recognize the threat that isil poses to its country, to its people, is the most significant and that they need to align themselves with those of us who are fighting isil. Isil is not going to pose an existential threat to us. They are a Dangerous Organization like al qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses, our homeland has never been more protected. Lets bring in our senior White House Correspondent jim acos acosta. Jim, what are you hearing from sources over at the white house about what we can expect to hear from the president . Reporter wolf, we dont expect president to unveil any big policy proposals or announce a major strip in strategy for the war on isis. This rare primetime address in the oval office is about reassuring the American People the president is doing what it takes to destroy this terrorist army and the public is worried about the events in france and california. Hell pledge to use every tool at his disposal to keep the American People safe. I think well also hear what the white house knows about the recent terror attack in San Bernardino and the connection, if any, between the two killers in that assault and isis commanders overseas. The president will also talk about the steps hes taken since the paris attacks. The intensified air campaign, plus the recent addition of the british to the air strikes on isis in syria. But, wolf, you know, ive been talking to Senior Administration officials for weeks about this isis problem. They believe the public is not fully aware of all of the sublg ses successes theyve had in the u. S. Led coalition. Well hear the president talk about that and renew his call for gun control laws. Youve heard about the democratic proposal in recent days to bar the people on the nofly list from buying firearms. I think the president will talk about that again and discuss how this nation must come together in the words of one Senior Administration official and uphold u. S. Values and the translation to that, wolf, that means treating muslimamericans just like any other american. They feel very strongly that the rhetoric coming out of the republican race for the white house right now is very counterproductive when it comes to bringing muslimamericans on board, that community on board to take the fight against isis and quite frankly to inform Law Enforcement officials when necessary if a threat develops here in the homeland. Wolf, the stakes are very high for this president as you were discussing earlier with john, jake, and gloria. Not only are republicans downing his policy. Earlier today Hillary Clinton said the u. S. Is not winning. That cannot go over well over here at the whouite house, wolf shes trying to distance herself from the policy statements on war against isis, if you will. Thanks very much, jim accost to. Jake, if the policy is not going to make a major policy announcement tomorrow but reiterate what hes been saying, is it worth the primetime address to the nation from the oval office . They obviously feel that it is. I mean, i think a couple things. One is most of the American People obviously do not follow the day in, day out remarks of president obama. Thinks hes said to the new yorker two years ago, et cetera. The way that we do. And the way that maybe many viewers of cnn do. And so the opportunity to speak to an audience that is sitting down to watch the simpsons, sitting down to watch sunday night football, that is an opportunity, that is a bigger audience than he has had in recent weeks and months to talk about this issue. Second of all, as jim just reiterated, there are a lot of remarks being made that are filling the air that are getting to the American People that have president obama very, very concerned especially when it comes to the way that the muslimamerican community is being addressed. Now, im told president obama will talk about the need for moderate muslim voices to drown out these voices of extremism, but he is also very, very concerned about the fact its not just bigotry and its not just immoral to cast dispersions on the 6 million to 8 million american muslims, its also stupid, its also bad Law Enforcement policy. You want to have american muslims, you want to have everybody in this country on the program, on board with if you see something, Say Something. Sharing information, sharing intelligence about individuals who might come into a mosque and be saying something you find troubling. And that the idea of demonizing so Many Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism is immoral and dumb. Yeah. Thats well said, indeed. Lets bring in some of our experts, joining us right now, dan pfeiffer, cnn political commentator. A former white house Senior Adviser to president obama. Walk us through a decisionmaking process, dan, how the president decides that tonight only the third time in his presidency hes going to speak in primetime from the oval office of the white house to the American People, indeed, to the world . Well, wolf, this is obviously the Primetime National address is the most powerful Communications Tool available to the president outside of the state of the union, and you do this very rarely. You dont want to overuse it. You need to do it at a time when you know the American People want to hear what you have to say, where they are interested in paying attention. I think using the oval office for just as you mentioned the third time is a sign that they really want to make sure that this speech is seen and heard and consumed as jake mentioned not people who follow the use every day, read the new yorker and watch cnn every day but the broader American Public hearing bits and pieces of whats happening around the world in terms of isil and speak to them in the new context of postSan Bernardino and postparis. Van jones, youre a former adviser to president obama, youre a cnn political commentator. Why is he doing so poorly with the American Public in the new cnn poll, how is president obama handling isis . Only 33 approve. 64 disapprove. Where has he gone wrong . Tonight hes got to make up some ground. He has both a heart challenge and a head challenge. The head challenge is hes got to connect better emotionally. I think in trying to conceptualize this saying this is not the soviet union, its not hitler, this is a death cult, he sometimes seems tone deaf. Hes almost like emotionally removed