The Note: Obama Takes On GOP Candidates Over Refugee Policy

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--OBAMA MOCKS REPUBLICANS ON REFUGEE STANCE: President Obama defended his efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States today, condemning criticism from many GOP presidential candidates as "political posturing." "We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic," Obama told reporters in Manila, Philippines at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. "We don't make good decisions if it's based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks. "Apparently, they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," the president said. "At first they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of 3-year-old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me." ABC's JOHN PARKINSON and ARLETTE SAENZ have more: http://abcn.ws/1X7aybl

--HOW THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HAVE EVOLVED ON SYRIAN REFUGEES: More than two months before the deadly attacks in Paris, President Obama announced that the United States would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees who are victims of the ongoing civil war in their country. Most Democrats have been supportive of Obama's promise to take in the refugees. Indeed, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley even pushed the Obama administration to accept a higher number: 65,000. In the weeks following the president's Sept. 10 announcement, several of the Republican candidates also signaled their support. But after Friday in Paris, many of them are changing their minds. ABC's PAOLA CHAVEZ, VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and MADISON JAROS look at how the positions of a handful of candidates have evolved: http://abcn.ws/1MSbJKn

--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: It's hardly been a moment for presidential leadership from the 2016 contenders, from "bomb the s----" out of them counting as military strategy against ISIS, and religious tests being endorsed to screen refugees from Syrian persecution and violence. As for the actual president, whether or not he missed the mark in terms of the emotion and tension of the moment with his initial comments, he made a striking turn toward mockery of the Republican candidates Tuesday night. "First, they were worried the press was too tough on them in the debates; now they're worried about 3-year old orphans. That doesn't sound very tough to me," the president said. In some ways it was a more powerful critique than the "un-American" label he applied the previous day; the president was making the debate over accepting Syrian refugees about toughness, not compassion, and not safety. President Obama has clearly always relished political combat where he can find it. It's worth pondering, though, how Senator Obama would have responded to President Bush if he had made support for the Iraq war into a question of toughness, as opposed to judgment or strategy.

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