Like most Americans , President Barack Obama is tired of war . Unlike most Americans , he just started another one . In launching his new campaign against Islamic State terrorists inside Iraq and Syria , the Nobel peace laureate acknowledged the engagement would n't be another Iraq or Afghanistan . And a day after Secretary of State John Kerry insisted the campaign is not a war , press secretary Josh Earnest on Friday affirmed that the United States is indeed `` at war '' with ISIS . But semantics aside , Obama is embarking upon a sustained military operation without an end date , price tag or clear definition of victory -- threatening his legacy as a war-ender and almost certainly dashing his goal of leaving the next commander in chief with a clean slate . `` This effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , '' Obama insisted during his address to the nation on Wednesday , noting no American troops were being sent in a combat role and a coalition of allied nations was joining the fight . But while Obama has broad public approval for his ISIS mission , according to polls , the decision to engage the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria undercuts his image as a president opposed to war -- though describing him as a foreign policy `` dove '' was never truly accurate . During his campaign for president in 2008 , Obama made clear he opposed military engagements such as the the war in Iraq , which he termed `` dumb '' and vowed to end . But he maintained there were times and places where U.S. military engagement was necessary . When he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 -- awarded for fostering a `` new climate '' in international relations -- Obama admitted war was n't going to end under his presidency . `` We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth : We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes , '' he said then . `` There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified . '' In the six years he 's been President , that use of force has translated into a surge in drone strikes against suspected militants in countries like Pakistan , Yemen and Somalia -- the latter two examples Obama cited Wednesday as models for his mission against ISIS . The drone campaign has infuriated civil libertarians and human rights advocates , who point to civilian casualties that often go unnoticed by the American public . But the strikes have allowed Obama to keep troops out of dangerous situations while mitigating terrorist threats . When he 's sent American personnel into danger , it 's been in small , tactical missions in the model of the raid that led to the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden . Obama attempted to sum up his policy during remarks at West Point last spring : `` To say that we have an interest in pursuing peace and freedom beyond our borders is not to say that every problem has a military solution , '' he said then . Put more bluntly a few months earlier , Obama said he was n't interested taking a `` swing at every pitch '' that came his way . With his expansion of the mission in Iraq , Obama seems to have seen a pitch he liked , making him the fourth president in a row to order an air campaign over the country . His goals there , analysts say , are distinct from Iraq campaigns in the past . `` I do not believe what he 's laid out in his speech or what he intends to do is transformative , '' said Aaron David Miller , a scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington who 's worked for Democratic and Republican administrations . `` He 's not interested in nation-building . '' While Obama may be setting out on a very different type of mission in Iraq , vowing the United States . would n't `` get dragged into another ground war '' there , he 's nonetheless setting his successor up to carry on the mission . `` He has clearly gotten pulled back in , '' said David Gergen , a former adviser to four presidents and CNN analyst . `` He 's a very reluctant warrior . He did n't want to do this . But it is good he recognized reality . ''
Despite broad public support , Obama 's campaign against ISIS undercuts his image as a president opposed to war . Comment: Obama is now the fourth-straight president to order an air campaign over Iraq .