Why Obama Chose to Speak from the Oval Office

New York Times: “The choice of the Oval Office as the location for the address to the nation was partly the result of holiday happenstance: The rest of the White House is decorated for the many parties that Mr. Obama will be hosting this week for his staff, members of Congress, journalists and others.”

“But the decision also reflects the gravity of a subject that has come to define Mr. Obama’s presidency, especially in his second term: how to reassure Americans of their safety even as the United States faces an increasingly aggressive terrorist foe. And it suggests the importance that the president and his advisers place on responding to criticism of the his strategy for defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.”

Washington Post: “White House officials said that a run of what they regard as fear-mongering and xenophobic speeches on the presidential campaign trail has heightened the need for Obama to speak to the nation.”