The Paris Attacks’ Shockwaves in America

The attacks on Nov. 13 had worldwide repercussions. For our neighbors, the threat of the Islamic State group and the growing phenomena of homegrown terrorism are revealing the American giant’s Achilles’ heel: political polarization.

In the United States, political partisanship is everywhere and the reactions to the Paris attacks were no exception. Shortly after the attacks, members of the American right demanded the country close its doors to the 10,000 Syrian refugees the United States had promised to welcome.

The debate over refugees generated incendiary comments from Republican presidential candidates, some of whom promised to send the Syrians fleeing the horrors of the Islamic State group and the Assad regime back home, all while insisting on burying them both with bombs.

Obama and Escalation in Syria

In addition to stirring up irrational fears about refugees, Republicans are one-upping themselves about military strikes against the Islamic State group. Their real target, naturally, is President Obama, whom Republicans blame for both the rise of the Islamic State group and for its attacks in the West, even though the Islamic State group seems to be losing ground in both Iraq and Syria.

Additionally, while France, Russia, and other European powers increased their attacks, Republicans continued to maintain that the United States should have strengthened its offensive after Nov. 13 rather than seemingly allowing others to take the lead.

It’s this kind of perception that is pushing Republicans to escalate their rhetoric, all while encouraging Hillary Clinton to distance herself a bit from President Obama so she won’t be left behind.

The problem for the likely Democratic candidate is that if President Obama’s approval rating drops because of this questioning of his leadership in the war effort, she is the one who will have to pay the price at the polls.

The Threat of Homegrown Terrorism

What Nov. 13 revealed about radical Islamic terrorism is that it will likely originate from communities within targeted Western countries rather than from plots that can eventually be stopped at the border.

In fact, since 2001, according to a study by the New America Foundation, of the 314 arrests of individuals suspected of jihadi activity, more than two-thirds were American citizens, and a small minority was of indeterminate origin.

How can we stop threats linked to radicalization? It’s a challenge we’ve unfortunately been familiar with since October 2014. In the United States, the problem is that these issues affect policies (immigration, cultural coexistence, domestic surveillance of radicalization agents, gun control) marked by partisan polarization that paralyzes American political institutions and stops them from finding long-term solutions based on a bipartisan consensus.

In the long term, this inability to act within essential areas and counter the type of terrorist threat we saw in Paris represents a real threat.