Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) blamed the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group in part on the presence of American troops in Iraq in an interview Tuesday on Morning Joe.
"There's a lot of concern and even criticism that the president's response was, at the very least, disengaged," co-host Mika Brzezinski said. "What do you say to that?"
"Well, there's no doubt that we can do more, but I think the president is right to recognize that there is a limit to the potential of American military power in the region, that the reason that ISIS exists is in part of because of 10 years of U.S. boots on the ground," Murphy said. "So while I would argue for an intensification of air strikes and hopefully we'll have more European partners, I think that he's right to be sober with the American people, that this terrorist organization was 10 years in the making, and so it's not going to be eliminated overnight."
Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went on to say the American people likely want a "clearer determination" from Obama to eliminate the Islamic State threat but not to expect it to be gone overnight.
The White House's ability to counter IS has come under extra scrutiny in the past week since it launched a horrific attack on Paris, France, killing more than 120 people. Obama said at a press conference Monday that he would not change his strategy against the organization, just days after telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos that IS was "contained."
Obama took questions from the media about his previous underestimations of IS, including once calling them a "JV team," and he was asked whether he felt he understood the group and had the capacity to defeat it.