I wouldn't say this is a broken clock, he also authorized the summary execution of the Sudanese pirates who were about to execute the ship captain. He has a pattern of decisive actions that belie his much more widely publicized efforts to pursue diplomatic solutions... which, come to think of it, is pretty much how LBJ tried to handle Vietnam.

I don't think it will work any better here. It's a strategy that has, time and again, been exploited by guerillas who are happy to paint the US as being only strong enough to keep the populations they recruit from stirred up just enough for them to recruit easily, while promising never to actually take the actions needed to put them out of business. On the domestic front, it provides just enough movement to seem like we're going to reach the light at the end of the tunnel, without ever actually doing so. It's a strategy that will not only fail in the end, but also exhaust the US's resources, manpower, and will before it does. And we already know all this from Vietnam, so why does Obama pursue the same strategy now?