The Obama Administration is continuing to use the imminent fall of the Kurdish border town of Kobani, Syria as a key talking point in the war against ISIS, insisting they are “deeply concerned” about the plight of the town.

At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed the concerns publicly, saying that the “strategic objectives” of the US war were to attack ISIS infrastructure, and that the fall of Kobani was “not a priority.”

Whether that’s actually the case or not is unclear, as the US has indeed launched a growing number of airstrikes around Kobani, seemingly making it a top priority to try to slow the ISIS advance on the town.

What happened, however, is that the airstrikes had little effect on the advancing forces, and now instead of admitting failure in those airstrikes, the administration seems to be playing a game of revisionism, claiming they weren’t really trying that hard to begin with.

The White House, while continuing to emphasize its “concern” for the Kurds, just in case they want to take another crack at an ISIS advance on Kurdish territory at some future date, is back to emphasizing just how long of a war this is going to be, and how patient everyone needs to be about it.

Yet even there, the policy reeks of failure, and the White House is openly admitting the airstrikes aren’t going to work at all without their hypothetical “moderate rebel” force, which isn’t going to be ready for another year, at best.