Seib: President Obama Gambles Delay on Islamic State Was Worth It - Wall Street Journal

Sept. 10, 2014 9:17 p.m. ET

President Barack Obama's speech to the nation Wednesday night laying out a strategy for dealing with the threat from Islamic State extremists closed the book on one presidential gamble—but opened the door to a fresh one that's only beginning.

The first gamble Mr. Obama took unfolded over the past three months, starting on the day in early June when Islamic State fighters captured the strategic Iraqi city of Mosul. With that victory,...