that's the ed show. politics nation with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live from washington, d.c. in just three hours, president obama will deliver a prime time address to detail his strategy for destroying the terrorist group isis. the president spending the day consulting with his national security council in the situation room. earlier, cameras caught the president in the oval office on the phone with the king of saudi arabia. sources tell nbc news, the president and vice president have been calling members of congress today. urging them to move quickly on a vote authorizing the training and arming of syrian rebels. part of a plan expected to also include air strikes in syria. but no u.s. boots on the ground.

the president's speech comes against a tense back drop. one day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. and after the gruesome execution of two american journalists. now, 61% say military action against isis in iraq and syria is in the national interest. people are scared. it is a level of fear we haven't seen since 9/11. this threat has to be dealt with. tonight we'll hear the president's plan of action. we'll have live reports from the pentagon and the white house. and reaction from congressman jim mcdermott and washington most e.j. deion here in washington. we'll go live to the pentagon in a moment. let's start tonight with christian welker at the white house. kristen, what does the white house think the president needs to do tonight?

>> reporter: i think the white house thinks the president needs to do a few things. first, not only make a clear case for his strategy for combatting isis but convincing the american people that he has the right strategy. as has been pointed out, a majority of americans approve military engagement against isis. but the president's approval ratings are at an all time low. make a robust case, why his strategy, a comprehensive strategy, will be the right one. he'll talk about why isis is so dangerous. how it poses to threats to u.s. interest abroad. how. he will talk about the need to go on the offense. we know that u.s. officials have said the president is prepared to authorize air strikes. it is not clear that will be a part of the president's speech. not sure that he will get into lael of specificity but we know he told leaders yesterday that

he doesn't think he needs their approval to launch more air strikes into syria to expand the military campaign. on that point he's going to make a case to congress to approve his request to arm and equip the syrian opposition forces. that's a big part of his strategy. and finally he will prepare the american people for an open ended engagement but also make the case, this is not going to be another iraq or afghanistan. there aren't going to be u.s. boots on the ground. back to you. >> there's a lot to do tonight. thank you. kristen welker at the white house. thank you for your time. >> absolutely. >> let's bring in nbc's chief correspondent jim miklaszewski. how is the pentagon planning to take action after the speech? >> well, revv reynold al, it all depends what direction they get from the president themselves. it is expected the u.s. will increase its cooperation with the iraqi forces. that means according to

officials, we're talking to, more forces that will serve in an advise and assist role. in other words they'll work directly with iraqi combat forces, not in a come about a zone. not fighting. but they'll work directly with the combat forces, iraqi combat forces in a train advise and assist role to help them better work their way through combat against the isis forces. also there will be definitely an increase in those air strikes that we've seen over the past several weeks. so far more than 150 air strikes against isis targets, which have been very effective in at least halting the progress, and turning back isis forces in some case. in reference to what kristen was talking about, air strikes against targets in syria, we're told that the president will not likely mention specifically that he has authorized air strikes against targets in syria. we're will that the speech will

leave no doubt in anybody's mind that that is where they're headed. without the cooperation, without the political cooperation from the iraqi government, this will go nowhere. because the sunnis just don't trust baghdad. if we can't win over the soinls to participate in this effort, the effort will go nowhere. and quite frankly, finally, many official are wondering if the president will level with the american people and tell the americans exactly what is happening here. the u.s. is going to war in iraq. >> well, we'll be watching and listening. jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thank you so much. >> you bet. >> let me bring in congressman jim mcdermott who is also a u.s. navy veteran and e.j. dionne from the "washington post." good to be here. >> congressman, what do you want to hear from the president

tonight? >> well, i believe that air strikes alone won't win this war. so the president has got to convince us that he has some support from the saudis and the emirates and the jordanians who are willing to go on the ground. we have 1,500 people already on the ground and we won't have enough if we don't have some people from the muslim and the arab community to come and help. training the syrians, we trained the iraqis, didn't we? when it came time they threw down their guns and ran away and isis picked them up. so i'm not sure who we'll be training in syria. i want to hear him talk about who he's got and who he thinks he's training. >> e.j., what message do americans need to hear from the president tonight? >> i think they want tonight he has a coherent plan to move forward and i think a lot has

been made of these poerls that show americans more hawkish and indeed since the beheading of those two journalists. it hasn't moved as far as people are saying. americans are willing to support air strikes, willing to support aid to iraqis but they do not want american come about a forces in there. there are still people. particularly in his own party who worry about another reengagement in the middle east. he has to splanl why isis is a threat. and then on the other side, he has to persuade folks that we can make this work without sending american troops and we are going to get support from the iraqis and others that we need. >> there is a lot of skepticism about going back into iraq. i am one of them. in jn it was 45%. three weeks ago it was 54%. now it's 71% of people wanting

to see something done. some kind of action. it shows how closely americans are following this. and it shows a growing sense in doing something about it. >> remember who it was that drove us into this war before. it was cheney. and he is at the american institute today whipping up the traps and everybody afraid again. and they're trying to drive the president into a position that he has to be very careful that he doesn't get pushed into. george bush was a patsy for cheney. he never said no to cheney on anything. i think the president has the will to stand up and slowly make decisions that will be best for americans. >> i'm not one to agree with cheney. you don't think there's a threat here? >> i don't think there is any threat to the united states at this moment. you can say of course in the future there maybe.

we could pull back and let the intelligence agencies pull back. the question is why do we want to settle a if it that we rimmed the top off pandora's box. we're trying to put it back in and it is a very difficult situation we're in. >> when americans see journalists beheaded, i was in new york 9/11 and i know how many of us, all of us that were against the war as it started later, many of us feared that terror. that's real. we haven't seen since 9/11 the percentage of americans saying they feel less safe than before the attacks. it's never gone-on 40%. 47% say they feel less safe than before 9/11. how should the president speak to those fears tonight?

>> i was honestly surprised by that number. because i don't think we are less safe at this moment. the president himself had a supports taking action against isis has gone out of his way of saying, at the moment, there is no obvious threat. i think what he is doing is saying this is not the same as the war in iraq. there were two wampls one was against terrorists. that was the invasion of afghanistan and the actions the president has taken since osama bin laden. counter terrorism. i think the president will say, we're not doing nation building here. what we are doing is a continuation of our counterism campaign. i think that's what the american people support. if you look at these polls carefully, they ten to show support for air strikes but it doesn't say that there is anything support for engagement

on the level of iraq. >> in an iraqi situation. congressman jim mcdermott and e.j. dionne, thank you for your time. coming up, we'll go inside the threat from isis. an army that use both twitter and beheadings. how can they be stopped? >> plus, what cheney said today on isis and his own record on iraq. you're watching special coverage of the president's address to the nation on msnbc. this is kat. setting up the perfect wedding day begins with arthritis pain and two pills. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns... that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain...

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our social media community has been talking about president

obama's prime time address all day. we're less than three hours away from hearing the president's plan on isis. our question of the day. what do you want to hear from president obama tonight? tell us what you think on our facebook page and we'll get to your responses later in the show. for your eyes, heart and brain go down easier. for a limited time, get your four-dollar coupon at centrum.com. so what we're looking for is a way to "plus" our accounting firm's mobile plan. and "minus" our expenses. perfect timing. we're offering our best-ever pricing on mobile plans for business. run the numbers on that. well, unlimited talk and text, and ten gigs of data for the five of you would be... one-seventy-five a month.

good calculating kyle. good job kyle. you just made partner. our best-ever pricing on mobile share value plans for business. now with a $100 bill credit for every business line you add. we're back with a potentially major development in the ray rice nfl beating story. a law enforcement official tells associated press tonight, he sent the video of ray rice

punching his then fiance to an nfl executive five months ago. according to the report from a.p., the law enforcement source played a 12-second voicemail from an nfl official, from an nfl office number, on april 9th, confirming the video arrived. a female voice expresses thanks and says, quote, you're right. it's terrible. if this report turns out to be true, this is in direct contrast to what nfl commissioner roger goodell has been saying since this violent video was released monday from the tmz sports show, nfl star ray rice punching his then fiance inside the atlantic city elevator. the commissioner spoke to cbs news yesterday and adamantly said, no one in the nfl saw it until this week.

>> yesterday morning i got into the office and our staff had come to me and said there's new evidence. there's video that you need to see. and i watched it then. >> did you know that a second tape existed? >> well, we had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. we assumed that there was a video. we asked for video but we were never granted that opportunity. >> so did anyone in the nfl see this second videotape before monday? >> no. >> no one in the nfl. >> no one in the nfl to my knowledge, and i've been asked that same question and the answer to that is no. >> but the associated press report tonight from a law enforcement official says the nfl had the video in april. nbc has not confirm this report. joining me now is john wortheim,

executive for "sports illustrated." thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks for having us on. >> john, if this is true, how damaging is this to roger goodell and the league? >> i think it is potentially fatal to roger goodell's commissionership. this already had taken on the whiff of classic scandal. who knew what? when did they know it? as you say, this is in direct contradiction to what he said. this already is immense p.r. fiasco to the league. to outright lie about this i think could really seal his fate. this is, for such a buttoned up organization as the nfl is, this has been mishandled in the start. even in the best case scenario that he was not made available to this. the fact this tape appears to have entered the building and

tmz has better fact gathering capabilities than the $10 billion nfl is really staggering. if this ends up being proven true, i think his commissionership is in deep, deep trouble. >> die an, a you've been covering this all week. the a.p. cannot confirm that anyone in the nfl heard the video or saw the video. but i mean, what do you think? this is really, really damaging. >> this story has stunk from the beginning when we all watched the gruesome second edition of that video. now it seems, it is contradiction after contradiction. this is a pr nightmare for the nfl. the season just started last weekend. i covered the washington redskins here in washington, d.c. and we're not doing anything football. we're not talking xs and os right now. the entire football season has been overshadowed by this story right now. the nfl is doing nothing to help

themselves. somebody is lying here. and this voice now of this woman, we don't know who she was at the nfl office. the fact that she was able to confirm that that video was in that building and nobody thought to get that video, watch it, i think we're going to be finding out a lot more information. we were able to confirm with the affiliate in charlotte that roger goodell did have a speaking engagement tonight. he was supposed to award the jaguars' owner with an award. he has canceled that. i think right now he is sitting in meetings trying to figure out where do they go next. i think the entire country right now is trying to figure out whether or not roger goodell needs to go or not. >> well, you know, john, you know the nfl did respond. goodell canceled tonight but they responded saying, we have no knowledge of this. we're not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on monday. we will look into it.

but if this ends up being so, clearly this is a direct contradiction to what he has said. and if anyone in his inner circle saw it, this is devastating for the commissioner. >> it is devastating either way. the fact that they've had a scandal of this magnitude and didn't have the wherewithal or the resources to get this video, that tmz did. that's a best case scenario. that's pretty damage. this is not a publicly traded company. there is not a board of directors, there's no shareholders and pressure. roger goodell's employers are 30 billionaires and he has made them very wealthy. yesterday lost amidst all this news, the buffalo bills, arguably the poorest franchise just sole for $1.4 billion. it is a different dynamic than a ceo of a company going through an embarrassment. again, this is a scandal like i've never seen in the nfl.

this is really, we came in a few weeks ago we were talking about head trauma and this ray rice was unfortunate and ugly but to see this, this is really starting. >> diana, where does this story go next? >> i think roger goodell needs to come forward and admit what he has seen and what he has not. i have a feeling he will continue to deny. this how can he backtrack at this point? what was he going to say? i lied yesterday to cbs news? i've lied in all these statements? he needs to either come forward with the truth and say i made a mistake and step down or continue denying it if that's the truth and he didn't see it. >> at this point, the a.p. is not saying he saw it. they're saying someone saw it. we'll see where it goes. clearly this is a situation that gets stranger and stranger. this is an ugly thing for america. thank you both for your time

tonight. we'll be right back. i'm type e.

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in less than three hours, president obama is expected to announce a drama escalation of the campaign against isis. already there have been 154 air strikes against the terrorist group in iraq. continuing a pattern of using air power against militant groups across the globe. by one count, president obama has authorized 328 drone strikes against al qaeda targets in pakistan. another 97 drone strikes in yemen. and we know from a letter written by osama bin laden himself that these strikes had effect in 2010, a letter seized from the compound where he was killed. and translated by the u.s. military, bin laden wrote that

al qaeda fighters were, quote, frankly exhausted from the enemy's air bombardments. but most believe that defeating isis will require boots on the ground. if those aren't american boots, who in the region is willing to take up the fight? we'll talk about it with nbc's richard engel reporting from northern iraq, next. if energy cd come from anything? or if power could go anywhere? or if light could seek out the dark? what would happen if that happens? anything.

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comprehensive and sustained counter terrorism strategy. the president will also say, quote, but i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. this counter terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady relentless effort to take out isil wherever they exist using our air power and support for partner forces on the ground. this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten u.s. while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we have successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years. joining me now is california senator barbara boxer who sits on the senate foreign relations committee. thank you for being here, senator. >> of course. >> what's your reaction to that preview of the president's

speech? >> well, just in line with what i think he has been working on now. a lot of people were losing patience but this is a president who is deliberative, thank god, because we don't want to make the mistakes of the bush/cheney years and walk into the middle of a civil war again. he has put together a coalition, i'm sure he'll detail it as of yesterday. it was nine nations and we had nato and he plans to go to the united nations, the arab league is supportive. and what is very important is, we're going to have combat boots on the ground that are not american combat boots. they're going to be the people who know the territory and who actually have more at stake. we certainly cannot sit by and see a terror group like this, which has grown into the tens of thousands, very well financed. they behead people. they say if you don't become our

strain of extreme islam, we're going to say you either flee or you'll be killed. if you don't convert. that's what they're about. and the whole world is threatened. and the president and many of us have learned that the way to do this is the right way. and i think tonight we're going to see a strong leader who is leaving the world. and i think it will be accepted by the american people and i just pray that we won't see a partisan divide. we should back this president because he is leading us in the right way. >> today vice president dick cheney criticized the president even before hearing the speech. listen to what mr. cheney had to say. >> there is a connection between these problems, between a disengaged president and some very volatile situations abroad. after five and a half years of an administration sending regular messages of retreat, withdrawal, and indifference, we

have lost credibility in the trusted allies that we need to win this war. >> what is your response to that? >> this man, dick cheney, led us into the worst foreign policy disaster in my memory. he didn't know what he was doing. he said we were going to go into iraq. we would be out of there in six months. we would have the oil, we would make money, and i could go on chapter and verse but honestly, i don't want to go back to those days. but he needs to go away. and if he does come out, he needs to support our president. to say this president is disengaged because he is taking his time to put together a winning strategy here, and learn from the past mistakes of putting americans in the middle of a civil war? please. and i think when history is written, they will say that it is because of the iraq war that

was waged on false pretense, that isis caught an opening here. that's what happened. and he needs to either be supportive of this president or go away. he is not helping us in this fight against these vicious terrorists. with those kinds of comments. >> what the fear of many after watching the beheadings and the concern of many were clearly though most are saying they do not want see the american troops on the ground. is it not irresponsible for some of your colleagues across the aisle, and mr. cheney and others to sort of go in a way that is not deliberate as the president has shown? and is not cautious that we don't make the mistakes that was made obviously, at least obvious to some of us in iraq? >> listen, all they want to do is move back into the same direction. if you listen to cheney, he is complaining that we don't have more combat boots on the ground

in afghanistan, in iraq, he gave a speech to the republicans in the united states senate. i was not in that room but i can tell you that the ranking member of the armed services committee certainly has a bill that he has introduced with no holds barred. doesn't even mention an international coalition. says everything is on the table. a declaration of war. the same old same old. and for them to criticize president obama and say he is disengaged when he has been working so hard to get this right. listen, we have suffered so much because of the war in iraq. we have suffered. 4,000 dead americans, tens of thousands of wounded, not to mention the iraqis. we walk into the middle of a civil war. it was a nightmare, a mistake based on false pretense. and thank goodness we have president obama who is laying out tonight a real strategy here where we lead the world.

we work with the world. and we give the world what it needs right now. that strong leadership. but everybody is going to play a role in this. and that's critical. >> we thank you. great to have you on the show. senator barbara boxer, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. now let's to go nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel who is reporting from the northern iraqi city of erbil where the pentagon announced another air strike against terrorists. you've been on the ground with kurdish fighters. what does the u.s. campaign against isis look like from there? >> reporter: what we've been seeing is the u.s. flying surveillance mission, we've heard the jets in the sky, we've seen the results of air strikes. then after the air strikes take place, and the u.s. bombs isis militants, the kurdish fighters

move in, set up check points, set up territory, dig trenches and take the terrain. and this is how the fight against isis, the war against isis, which looks like it will expand quite soon, is supposed to be taking place. the problem is, the united states doesn't have allies like it does in the kurds in other parts of this region. the iraqi army which is supposed to be doing the same thing, has effectively collapsed. in syria, there are no u.s. allies on the ground who can move in and take terrain after the u.s. bombs. so the model we are seeing here is going to be very difficult to replicate in other places. i think that's one of the fundamental weakness that's we'll see emerging as this campaign of isis intensifies. >> how will the air campaign against isis be similar to the air campaign against al qaeda in places like pakistan and yemen?

and how it will be different for that matter? >> reporter: in some ways, it will be similar. on take yemen or any of these places that don't have a complete government. al qaeda operates in these areas, or al qaeda like groups most of the time, they are in hiding. the u.s. watches. they have informants on the ground and when they find a militant, they strike and try to keep them from carrying out attacks locally. in syria and iraq, we have a much bigger problem. these militants operate like a state. they control an area the size of maryland. they have 8 million people under their control. so it is not the case of finding terrorists who are hiding and striking them before they can carry out some sort of atrocity.

you have to topple a terrorist regime. when you do that as the u.s. experience in iraq has shown, when you topple a regime, you have to think very long and very hard about what goes into replace it. >> richard, well, we'll to have leave it there. thank you to richard engel reporting from northern iraq tonight. thank you very much. still ahead, how do you stop a terrorist group that uses beheadings? crucifixions and twitter? we'll go inside the isis threat next. you're watching our special coverage of the president's speech to the nation on isis. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease.

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we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, we'll shrink the territory that they control and ultimately we'll defeat them. >> in just two hours, a little over two hours from now, the president will lay out his strategy for degrading and defeating the terrorist group isis. it's a group that americans are still just learning about. some of what we know come from its own propaganda efforts. including a new video isis released this week. a warning, some of it is

disturbing. the original video was produced by isis so we only see what they want us to see. it shows isis taking over a key syrian air base with footage of captured syrian fighter jets and heavy weaponry. it also shows members of the syrian army being marched to their deaths. after the chilling beheading videos of two journalists, this is what we've come to expect from a vicious group known for their public executions, beheadings, crucifixions and mass killings. >> isil is a sophisticated and well funded group as we have seen. they're beyond just a terrorist group. they are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it is in iraq or anywhere else. >> the group's methods are medieval. but isis has coupled the brutality with the 21st century

technology. state-of-the-art video equipment, drones, shooting images from above. they regularly pull speeches and multilingual twitter messages online. joining me now is evan coleman, nbc terrorism analyst and steve, washington editor at large for the atlantic. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> what makes isis so lethal and different from other groups? >> certainly the social media plays part in that. what we've seen is that isis has been relying on commercial social media platforms that are widely available to a western you had a yenls. that means they can communicate their message of terror directly to the american public and it also means they can recruit a large number of westerners. people that don't speak arabic, who don't have access to a proprietary al qaeda web forum. what that means is that the actual threat posed by these folks, not syria or iraq but

here to the united states and european countries, is significantly greater because of the fact that they have access to far more people with u.s. citizenship work european citizenship, with passport and travel documents. the idea that they have access to a large number of individuals that can get past western security checks is something that we did not see from al qaeda. we didn't see in yemen or pakistan or iraq. and now we're seeing it in iraq and syria from isis. >> you know, steve, the new york time reports isis is using lots of different media in their campaign. they say, quote, isis is online jihad 3.0. their videos resemble combat video game and cable television dramas. and they use services like just pace to publish battle summaries, soundcloud to release audio reports, instagram to share images and what's app to

spread graphics and videos. this is unprecedented, isn't it? >> it is unless you look at what we've deployed. this is tonight say we're in any way morally similar but this is their shock and awe campaign. all shock and awe. as you said, in the 21st century with 21st century tools. i think that what has happened, as evan said. you have a sophisticated and a toxic aamalgam of both youth that have these talents, combined with brilliant. we have to put that there, iraqi, particularly bathist commanders that have joined in. and some of the most demonological thugs that we see on the planet today them put all of this together. it is a shock and awe campaign. and we have to respond with our own campaign. >> steve, then what does the president need to say tonight? and what does he need to say to our allies? >> i think he needs to show smart resolve. a lot of us want to see a

reaction that shows he'll make a difference. that being. you have to ask why is evan said, why are they performing on a stage to reach so many westerners? we have to be careful to not create the conditions that hem fuel them as we did in my view in afghanistan and iraq. a large military footprint actually animates the building of our opposition. and we need to make sure -- >> are we in danger of that now? >> the president will say tonight, there are ways to go in, ways to respond. while we may be dropping a lot of drones and drones recommend their own problems. a lot of innocent people get killed in that process. we may in fact be able to degrade isis without committing the major mistakes we did in iraq. >> what is isis afraid of?

are they afraid of troops on the ground? >> isis is afraid that sunnis within syria and iraq had turn against them. i think you can see that in an event that just ham here in the last 24 hours. there was a major, what appears to any way be a suicide attack on the leaders of a major syrian rebel group. it doesn't have much in common with the united states but it is a major competitor with isis. they have already assassinated several leaders of the organization over the past year and it sure looks like someone is trying to get rid of any opposition that would present a challenge to them or would present any avenue for outside actors to try to gain a foot hold against isis. i think part of the problem is, in terms of social mead. we don't know what we should put this out. it was put out the other day for people in iraq and syria and it is trying to scare them by saying they're into we headings

a and crucifixions and things like that. but people are rallied by this. they think this is great. trying on dissuade people from joining isis by saying they behead people, that's not a surprise to anyone. i think the state department needs to figure out a better counter message. what would be a better message? what should the message be in. >> i think the better message would be to have sunni muslims in iraq and syria who have been murdered and tortured and beaten and have been stolen from, have those people on camera telling their personal stories of anguish so that people can see, this is not about america versus isis. this is about islam versus isis. this is about the muslims of syria and iraq. the sunni muslims who no doubt they've suffered under the regime of nuri al maliki but they're suffering worse unisis. people to have get that message. and it is amazing that the state

department still doesn't understand that. >> steve, i see you nodding. is that what needs to happen? get the sunnis? they were so effective in iraq. >> there is no way to really beat isis without doing what evan just said. to make the spearhead of this campaign sunni soldiers, sunni stories, sunni clerics, you've got to have main stream sunni society spit on isis and say you have no place in our world. it can't be the shia muslims, it can't be western christians, it can't be anyone else. it has to be a sunni spearhead against isis, showing they are isolated and that there's no place in the sunni future for isis to continue. we can't deliver that message without grabbing those stories. >> the tactics isis has used in iraq and syria include

beheadings, crucifixions, burying people alive and mass executions. while the group is very media savvy, do they run the risk of alienating people? >> 100%. this is what happened with al qaeda in iraq when al zawahiri started beheading people on camera, the leader said stop doing this. if you want to behead people, that's fine. doan put on it camera. theon people you're rallying behind that are people who think slaughter and destruction and chaos is a good thing and nobody really wants that. if you want to establish an islamic state, you don't want a gang of thugs and murderers. that's what isis is getting right now. the home is that the majority of sunni muslims and people will understand. this is an group trying to achieve something or build something. all it wants to do is destroy things. to destroy everything around it and kill innocent people. that message hopefully will

resonate the more isis pursues this bizarre strategy. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there. the president will be making a lot of that very clear tonight. i'm sure. thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. still ahead, seizing the moment with a prime time address. president obama has done it before. we'll look at what we can expect tonight.

the politics nation social media communication has been very active. we asked what do you want to hear from president obama tonight? peggy hopes he will simply say that we will get rid of them. them being isis. faith posted, we will go slow, take care and save lives. georgia homes president obama says he will make every effort not to let this mutate into an all-out war. thank you for all your comments. more on president obama's big moment. that's next. sinesses with universities across the state. for better access to talent, cutting edge research, and state of the art facilities. and you pay no taxes for ten years. from biotech in brooklyn, to next gen energy in binghamton, to manufacturing in buffalo... startup-ny has new businesses popping up across the state.

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tonight will be president obama's seventh address to the nation from the white house. he spoke on issues of national importance. such as announcing the end of the u.s. combat mission in iraq.

or the night he made this announcement to the world. >> good evening. tonight i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden. one year ago tonight president obama delivered his last address to the nation. on syria. every network carried the president's remarks live. the nation stops to watch as we have done throughout our history. from president eisenhower in 1957, sending troops to desegregate little rock central, to president kennedy in 1962, addressing the cuban missile crisis. president nixonon announcing he was resigning from office. or president reagan, mourning the challenger shuttle explosion. in 19 people in, president clinton outlined military involvement in somalia.

in 2001, president george w. bush vowed to go after the terrorist who's attacked us on 9/11. only the president obama will lay out his vision to the country for defeating isis. the nation will be watching. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. i will see you back here starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern for msnbc's special coverage of the president's speech. first, "hardball" starts right now. fight night. this is "hardball." good evening, i'll chris matthews in washington overlooking the u.s. capitol. only the the president must make an impossible argument. that we can protect ourselves in this country at home or