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How the 'reluctant warrior' became a wartime president

Posted at 4:59 PM, Sep 24, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-25 08:06:35-04

The president who campaigned on ending America's wars is now leading the country into a new one.

Wednesday, Obama spoke before the United Nations not as a peacetime president but as a commander in chief overseeing another foreign war. It's a legacy the Nobel Prize laureate probably never envisioned for himself. Several media outlets have called Obama a "reluctant warrior". 

Granted, it might be a little strange to attach that label to him now, seeing as he's long supported a robust military strategy. Syria is now the seventh Arab country he's ordered airstrikes in since taking office.  

Even in 2009, as he picked up his Nobel prize, Obama offered a vigorous defense of the use of military force when a war is considered "just." 

Find out more with this Newsy video.