According to Jonathan Karl of ABC News, President Obama's speech tomorrow will not focus on how he plans to defeat ISIS but to defend against his bad poll numbers. Speaking with George Stephanopoulos, Karl asserted, "The single-biggest factor in that [his low poll numbers) is that a majority say the President has been too cautious in responding to this threat. That's why he's giving the speech. He's not going to order air strikes on Syria yet. He is going to make the case that he has a strong approach, a strategy for taking on this group."

In other words, the purpose of the speech is to defend himself:

Karl: Good morning, George. Even more significant in that new poll is that an equally large number of Americans in this poll support expanding those air strikes into Syria. This is a dramatic change of public opinion. Just a couple of months ago, there was deep reluctance to get involved militarily in any way in the Middle East. Now, you see wide concern about the threat posed by a group that's been beheading Americans, taking over large territory, large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria. In this poll, 91%---91% said that they see ISIS as posing a vital threat to U.S. interests.

Stephanopoulos: But the President is not prepared to announce tomorrow night that he is ready to strike Syria with air strikes. And it comes with a time he is facing some real popularity problems. We see 56% of the country disapproving of how the President is handling foreign policy.

Karl: Right and the single-biggest factor in that, is that a majority say the President has been too cautious in responding to this threat. That's why he's giving the speech. He's not going to order air strikes on Syria yet. He is going to make the case that he has a strong approach, a strategy for taking on this group.