The thing is, we do have Daesh on the back foot, they have been losing ground in Iraq and in Syria.
Will this last? Probably not, there will be counter-attacks and there will be victories and defeats ahead.
The reason that the US has been so reluctant to go all in is because such a conflict would last for decades and cost trillions of dollars. Obama doesn't want to be remembered as the man who committed America to that, especially not after George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq.
No, in any operation in Iraq and Syria it will have to be a multi-national operation under the leadership of the United Nations. Of course, there are some tricky legal loopholes to get through first, for example, declaring war on 'Islamic State' is tricky because hardly anyone actually recognises them as a state.
Then, of course, there's the question of Assad, Iran would want him to stay in power, Russia is moving into a position where they'd accept him leaving power but would probably want to able to choose his successor, Saudi Arabia would want a Saudi leaning person in charge of Syria and the US just wants Assad gone and preferably a democratic leadership in place.
Getting rid of Daesh is just the first problem in Syria and Iraq, and any mission in these nations has got to prepare for the victory just as much as the operation itself, because any victory is going to leave a brief vacuum that's going to be filled by someone or something, perhaps even worse than Daesh.
So, it's not easy, but I think the first steps really need to begin at the UN, and that we also need to think about what we need to do in Europe at the same time as our actions in Syria and Iraq, taking on the jihadist hot-spots, cracking down on jihadi recruitment but at the same time making sure that we don't alienate the Muslims who just want a peaceful life in Europe and don't want to be attacked because of their choice of religion. In this fight, the likes of Front National and PEGIDA might also need attacking at the same time we take on Daesh.
Ignorance, fear and anger are our enemies here.