--- title: Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks description: The Speaker of the House called the president's tears a "distraction." canonical: https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-07T18:19:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:52:42.788Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks og:description: The Speaker called the president's tears a "distraction." og:url: https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6750a4bfc939ec74/6988780a196cf40c63039be3/gettyimages-503854884.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Media Briefing At Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks twitter:description: The Speaker called the president's tears a "distraction." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6750a4bfc939ec74/6988780a196cf40c63039be3/gettyimages-503854884.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 7, 2016 6:19 PM UTC  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan holds his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. Calling 2016 a "year of ideas," Ryan said that the House of Representatives will thing big but may not accomplish its key agenda with President Barack Obama in the White House. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan holds his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. Calling 2016 a "year of ideas," Ryan said that the House of Representatives will thing big but may not accomplish its key agenda with President Barack Obama in the White House.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 7, 2016 6:19 PM UTC Speaker Paul Ryan responded Wednesday to President Obama’s executive order on guns that the president should have [exhibited “the same kind of reaction”](https://www.yahoo.com/katiecouric/house-speaker-paul-ryan-on-gun-control-obama-and-064122264.html) to the terrorist attacks committed by ISIS supporters last year. In an interview with Yahoo News’ Katie Couric, Ryan was asked if he had been swayed by [the president’s tears Tuesday](http://time.com/4167749/obama-gun-control-remarks/), as Obama recalled the 20 first-graders gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012\. Ryan responded that he thought the president should have reacted the same way in other situations, particularly after acts of terrorism. “I was affected by it, but I thought we should’ve had the same kind of reaction when James Foley was beheaded, when San Bernardino and Paris occurred,” Ryan told Couric. “That’s the kind of reaction I had when those occurred.” Ryan went on to explain what an announcement about new regulations on gun sales had to do with the White House’s Middle East policy, saying the president’s remarks were drawing focus away from the real problem—ISIS. “What I think he’s trying to do is distract from basically his failed policies,” said Ryan.“I think the president should put as much effort into going after homegrown Jihadists and going after terrorist infiltration of our refugee network and going after defeating ISIS than he is in trying to frustrate the law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.” **Read More:** [_Why Obama Cries Over Gun Control_](http://time.com/4168680/barack-obama-gun-control-tears/) Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks","datePublished":"2016-01-07T18:19:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:52:42.788Z","description":"The Speaker called the president's tears a 'distraction'","url":"https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/","keywords":["Paul Ryan","Gun Control","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6750a4bfc939ec74/6988780a196cf40c63039be3/gettyimages-503854884.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6750a4bfc939ec74/6988780a196cf40c63039be3/gettyimages-503854884.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Media Briefing At Capitol","caption":"Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Media Briefing At Capitol","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paul-ryan/","name":"Paul Ryan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4171492/paul-ryan-barack-obama-tears-isis/","name":"Paul Ryan Wonders Why Obama Didn't Cry Over ISIS Attacks"}}]}] ```