Americans never want to go to war.

A civilized and rational viewpoint.  It goes back to our Civil War, which was so terrible that the survivors swore "Never again".  That attitude has been passed down to the present day.  America stayed out of WWI for three years.  It took a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor to get us into WWII.  Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan did nothing to make war seem useful, practical, moral, or desirable.  Americans are against war.
   Obama keeps saying that Americans won't support action in Iraq (or anywhere else) as an excuse for doing nothing.  In actual fact, while no American is real happy about getting into anything, we will do it, if we perceive our cause is right, and the enemy is despicable. Perceive is the key word here.  Public perceptions are strongly shaped by the President, and the media.  We have a President who doesn't want to act, backed up by a media that supports the President no matter what.  If we had a President who wanted to save Iraq, and a media that supported him with atrocity stories about ISIS, things would be different.  Using American reluctance to go to war as an excuse for turning Iraq over to Islamic terrorists is shameful. 
    It takes a lot to get Americans to mix it up in "military action",  "police action", "peace keeping" or plain old war.  Last time we went to war with a will was after Pearl Harbor.  When we did finally get into WWII, within two years we turned that war around.  The Axis was on a roll in 1942.  By 1944 we were rolling 'em back. 
  In recent history, it takes presidential leadership to get American to go to war.  Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan happened because Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Bush decided these wars had to be fought.  Without those presidents leading, we would not have fought any of them.  And there was significant political opposition to all four of those wars.  Those presidents were able to overcome said political opposition.  Lacking presidential leadership, modern America will not go to war.  When Obama says public opinion will not support action in the Middle East, he is really saying that he does not support action.