The Note: Obama Takes On GOP Candidates Over Refugee Policy

— -- NOTABLES

--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.

IN THE NOTE'S INBOX

JEB BUSH TO DELIVER MAJOR NATIONAL SECURITY SPEECH AT THE CITADEL. A Bush campaign aide tells The Note: "In his remarks at The Citadel today, Gov. Bush will address the path forward in our war against ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism, and how we need to rebuild our military to address these threats. The speech was initially scheduled to cover Governor Bush's specific prescriptions for how to rebuild the military and recent events only reinforce the critical nature of that policy." Here's an excerpt: "President Obama doesn't see a reason to change course. And here in South Carolina two weeks ago, Hillary Clinton said that her foreign policy would be no more aggressive or forward leaning than his. I reject their diminished view of America's role in the world. In my administration, security for the United States will mean gaining and keeping the edge in every category, old and new."

THE BUZZwith ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ

BYE, BYE BOBBY: JINDAL DROPS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE. Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal has dropped out of the race for the White House, ending a campaign plagued by low polling numbers both nationally and in Iowa, where he had focused most of his 2016 bid, ABC's RYAN STRUYK reports. "I am suspending my campaign for president of the United States," the Louisiana Governor told Fox News' Bret Baier. "The reality though is, they told me as a young child, Americans can do anything. I believed them then, I believe them now. But you know, this is not my time. I've come to the realization this is not my time." His decision leaves 14 candidates remaining in the race for the Republican nomination, currently led by real estate mogul Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson. http://abcn.ws/1X5SWwr

SYRIAN MUSLIMS 'NOT FACING GENOCIDE THE WAY CHRISTIANS ARE,' TED CRUZ SAYS. Sen. Ted Cruz defended his call to allow only Syrian Christian refugees into the United States, saying it wouldn't be difficult to screen for religion. "At the end of the day it's not that complicated. There's no history of ISIS terrorists embedding in the Christian community and pretending to be Christian," Cruz said in an exclusive interview with ABC's JONATHAN KARL. "If that were occurring, we would work to prevent it. And any refugee coming into this country should be thoroughly vetted, I'm not saying that anyone should be exempted from vetting." Cruz is one of several presidential candidates in the days since the terrorist attacks in Paris to criticize and call for changes to U.S. plans to bring in Syrian refugees. Cruz said he plans to propose legislation to ban Syrian Muslims from coming to the United States. http://abcn.ws/1O117tB

JEB BUSH SAYS US SHOULD ALLOW SYRIAN REFUGEES WHO CAN PROVE THEY'RE CHRISTIAN. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said the United States should allow in some refugees from the civil war in Syria -- specifically orphans and Christians. "At a minimum we ought to be bringing in people that have -- orphans or people that clearly aren't going to be terrorists. Or Christians," Bush said during a campaign stop South Carolina. "There are no Christian terrorists in the Middle East, they're persecuted." When pressed by ABC News on how he would determine who is a Christian he said, "I mean you can prove you're a Christian." adding, "I think you can prove it, if you can't prove it, you are on the side of caution." His suggestion would not exclude Muslims, however, ABC's CANDACE SMITH notes. The former Florida governor also said that he thinks the governors are doing the right thing in resisting refugees because there hasn't been clarity on the vetting. http://abcn.ws/1PNkndT

MARCO RUBIO KNOCKS RIVALS FOR VOTING TO 'WEAKEN US INTELLIGENCE'. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio knocked his GOP presidential competitors Ted Cruz and Rand Paul for voting to "weaken U.S. Intelligence" gathering capabilities. "Two of my colleagues in the Senate who are aspiring to the presidency -- Senator Cruz in particular -- have voted to weaken the U.S. Intelligence program, just in the last month and a half," said Rubio, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council in Washington, D.C., on Monday evening. This year, Cruz and Paul supported legislation that would put an end to current government data-collection programs, while Rubio voted to keep them. ABC's INES DE LA CUETARA reports Rubio's comments came as he was explaining what he thinks the U.S. should be doing domestically in the fight against ISIS and in light of the group's recent terror attacks on Paris. http://abcn.ws/1S1xpUx

TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD BAN SYRIAN REFUGEES FROM ENTERING US. Presidential front-runner Donald Trump told ABC's BARBARA WALTERS Tuesday that he would ban all Syrian refugees, both Christian and Muslim, from entering the US and that the screening process for Syrian refugees seeking entry into the country needs to be "superior" to what it is now. Trump, who sat down with Walters in an interview for ABC News' "20/20," said it was tough to distinguish one group from the other, ABC's ENJOLI FRANCIS reports. "The problem is, we don't [know] if they're Christian or not," Trump said. "I would certainly say that (the screening test) would be superior. ... We have no idea who the people are. They have no papers. They have no paperwork. You can get forged documents very easily in Syria." http://abcn.ws/1YfDkJm

MEET THE SYRIAN-AMERICAN WOMAN JEB BUSH REFERENCES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. It was more than a month ago that Nora Barre, a 34-year-old Syrian-American woman, declared her support for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. "I'm all in for Jeb," she declared proudly in September when interviewed by ABC News. Now, the New Hampshire resident has some reservations. Like so many others, she was horrified by the attacks in Paris, knowing that the reverberations would strike close to home. She has 14 family members in Syria, all imperiled by ISIS's continued march there. Her situation puts Bush in a moral bind. They first met in late September when she traveled to his town hall in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and tearfully told the story of her family members that she was trying to get out of Syria. He hugged her and said that the United States was duty-bound to take those in need. ABC's CANDACE SMITH has more. http://abcn.ws/1lt6erh

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

HILLARY CLINTON'S EXPERIENCE A PLUS, DONALD TRUMP HAS 'DRUNK UNCLE' IMAGE, VOTERS SAY. Twenty-six men and women from across the political spectrum spent Monday evening in Ohio's capital with some explaining that they thought Hillary Clinton's experience was a plus, to others Donald Trump seemed like a "drunk uncle" and nearly all said they worried Ben Carson was not ready to be president. The participants in two focus groups split by gender ranged in age from their 20s to 60s and ran the political spectrum from strongly Democratic to strongly Republican, although the groups contained slightly more Democrats. They answered pollsters' questions about the 2016 presidential race, the state of the nation and more. Democratic pollster Peter Hart oversaw the Columbus, Ohio, sessions on behalf of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and moderated the discussion. ABC's BEN GITTLESON and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE have more. http://abcn.ws/1WXZhzq

WHO'S TWEETING?

@sbg1: The Kochs have a secret intel arm: fascinating, important report here from @kenvogel http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943 …

@bpolitics: These numbers explain the sudden antipathy to Muslim refugees via some Republican candidates http://bloom.bg/1kCTVIE

@tedcruz: TONIGHT at 6 pm -- join me and @ByronYork for a live teletownhall. RSVP here: https://vekeo.com/event/washingtonexaminerwithtedcruz-206692/...

@ColinTReed: utterly abysmal #s from @QuinnipiacPoll: "CO voters say 67 - 30 percent that Clinton is not honest and trustworthy" http://bit.ly/1HWwmzt

@PhilipRucker: "Oh great, now I can use my over one mill hard-earned SPG platinum ambassador points on that new SpringHill Suites" http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/upshot/marriott-merger-has-starwood-lovers-nervous.html?referer=...