'Lonely and isolated': Obama losing public opinion on refugee issue, journalists say

U.S. President Barack Obama pauses as he recalls the terrorist attacks in Paris and Mali during his news conference at the conclusion of his ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit (EAS) meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Nov. 22, 2015.Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama might have been a popular figure in his country and the international community in the past, but when it comes to the issue of Syrian refugees, he now appears to be on his own.

This was the opinion aired by CNN veteran journalist John King when he tackled the Obama administration's latest quandary following the terror attacks in Paris which killed at least 130 people: Whether or not to allow more refugees on American soil.

"You see the president's frustration there. There is a pretty tough vetting process with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. It's not like the refugees that get on a boat and get to Greece or Europe. That's the president's policy argument," King said last Sunday on CNN's "Inside Politics."

The television host also noted how Obama is already losing in the court of public opinion, and is likely to lose support from Congress, on the refugee issue.

"Publicly he's losing the American people who say we don't want any refugees. In the House, if you look at the House vote, the president lost 47 Democrats, a veto-proof majority," King said.

"How does he make the case before the Senate to it where he only has to lose six or seven Democrats in the Senate. You have an election next year now. The president seems lonely and isolated right now," he added.

Associated Press' Julie Pace agreed that Obama seemed to be in the wrong side of the fence in dealing with refugees.

"His initial reaction was to say if you're someone who is even considering trying to block refugees coming into the country you are un-American. That got a lot of backs against the wall," Pace said, as quoted by Breitbart.com.

"The White House has been talking to Democrats who have been focused on policy and not on politics. This is a problem for the White House as they talk to Democrats for years," she added.