Aide: Obama to deliver a ‘forceful’ message of American leadership

The United States has a crucial role to play in organizing the international response to challenges ranging from Ebola to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), President Obama will argue in his address Wednesday morning to the United Nations General Assembly.

The president, who for months has faced tough questions about how much influence the U.S. retains on the world stage amid a series of international dramas, will acknowledge “unease over a range of challenges,” a White House official said.

But Obama will offer a “forceful and optimistic message of American leadership,” the aide continued, painting the U.S. as a crucial force for rallying global action.

Most acutely, the president will call on other nations to join U.S.-led military efforts against ISIS. On Tuesday, the U.S. launched the second round of airstrikes against the terror group inside of Syria, and Obama has argued that regional and international allies will prove essential to rooting out the organization. Five Arab countries joined the U.S. in the first round of airstrikes against ISIS targets within Syria.

“The president will call on the world to join him in this effort to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist organization,” the official said. “However he will speak more comprehensively about the need to tackle the forces that give rise to [ISIS] — extremist ideology, sectarian conflicts and the need for more affirmative alternatives to terror.”

The president’s multilateral approach has left his foreign policy poll numbers floundering at home, with a recent Economist/YouGov poll showing only a third of Americans approving of his handling of world affairs. But Obama will paint the U.S. as having led international efforts on a range of foreign policy challenges that are beginning to show “momentum” toward America’s favor, officials say.

The accomplishments the president will highlight include the coalition strikes against ISIS, the effort to contain Ebola in Africa, sanctions against Russia for its repeated incursions into Ukraine, the new unity government in Afghanistan and common efforts on climate change.

“On all these issues, America acts not alone, but leading large coalitions of countries, and he will call on more nations to join us,” the official said.

Later Wednesday, Obama will look to translate that call to action, when he convenes a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. It will be only the second time in history a U.S. president chairs a meeting of that body, and the president is expected to push member countries to adopt a resolution requiring countries to beef up their efforts to stop the flow of foreign fighters who travel to join terror groups like ISIS.

The president will also meet privately with new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is battling to keep his country united amid the march of ISIS throughout much of Iraq’s northern region. The president has depicted Abadi as crucial to combatting the terror group, saying he represents a fresh break from former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s divisive policies.

Obama also plans to meet with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and attend a leaders’ luncheon.