Obama Concedes to Todd: ISIS ‘Is Not a JV Team’

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd asked President Barack Obama Sunday morning about his comment from last winter that al Qaeda groups were the “junior varsity” of terrorist organizations, a comment which has come back to haunt him as ISIS,which splintered off of al Qaeda, has become resurgent in Iraq and Syria.

“I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL,” Obama said. “I’ve said regionally there were a whole series of organizations that were focused primarily locally, weren’t focused on the homeland. I think a lot of us when we focus on terrorism think about Osama bin Laden and 9/11.”

“But they can evolve,” Obama continued. “And I was very specific at the time. What I said was not every regional terrorist organization is automatically a threat to us that would call for a major offensive.”

RELATED: Obama: ‘Should Have Anticipated the Optics’ of Golfing after Foley Statement

Todd pressed Obama about whether he’d still use the same phrasing.

“They’re not a J.V.

team,” Obama conceded. “But keep in mind that we anticipated some of these problems in the speech I gave at West Point, where I specifically said our goal should not be to occupy every country where there’s a terrorist organization. Our goal ha to be to partner more effectively with governments that are committed to pushing back against the kind of extremism that ISIL represents. That’s going to require us to do things a little differently.”

Watch the clip below, via NBC News:

[Image via screengrab]

——
>> Follow Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) on Twitter