Obama Faces Test in Memorial Remarks
"It's going to be important…to feel as if we are speaking directly to our sense of loss, but also speaking to our hopes for the future and how out of this tragedy we can come together as a stronger nation.”
President Obama will address the nation about the Tucson shooting rampage from a memorial service to be held for its victims on Wednesday at the University of Arizona.
The timing of the speech seems appropriate since doctors are increasingly optimistic about the condition of the target of the rampage, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
Today seems to be the crucial day as doctors monitor swelling in her brain, but the indications so far seem to be that she has stabilized, is still responsive to commands from doctors and has not shown signs of increased swelling.
While doctors were also optimistic that the trajectory of the gunman’s bullet – from back to front at an upward angle – may have spared vital portions of the congresswoman’s brain, there is no doubt that even if she survives the current peril, her road to recovery would be a long one.
On Wednesday, Obama may be able to point to Giffords’ recovery as a ray of hope in the shadow of six dead and 13 others injured.
But, how will Obama address the subject? It will be a defining moment for his presidency.
If Obama opts to use the moment to discuss the need to quiet our political discourse, he will please Democrats who believe that there is a link between the killing and partisan rhetoric. But, with all evidence suggesting that the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, lacked any coherent political connections, such remarks from the president would themselves be seen as partisan.
Loughner, a registered independent who did not vote in the midterm elections, looked like a man possessed before his court appearance Monday – a ghoulish figure with a shaved head and a deranged smile.
If Obama looks to suggest that partisan rancor helped create a “climate” that drove Loughner to act, he will lose his chance to use the speech as a teachable moment for the conservatives at whom he would be directing his remarks. Blaming those on the right without evidence and then attempting to instruct them is not going to work.
But his own political base is howling for recriminations against conservatives who they believe created a “climate” that encouraged Loughner to act. Even as evidence piled up that Loughner exists in no climate but the one of his own making, those in the president’s party continued to suggest that somehow their political opponents were to blame.
As he figures out his lesson plan, the president may opt to instruct on a narrower subject and praise the heroes of the day, mourn the lost, pray for the suffering and avoid drawing broad cultural conclusions.
A year ago, there is little doubt that Obama would have instructed on the dangers of partisanship. The new, more publicly cautious Obama may not. But if he does, it is unlikely to produce the healing he is seeking.
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/11...
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, January 11th 2011 at 9:50PM
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