Re: Obama Urges Civility, Not Conflict, After Shooting

while his peanut gallery whoops and his flaks lies and smear

his usual procedure of licensing his whores to do the dirtiest work

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 12:01 PM, Tommy News <tommysnews@gmail.com> wrote:

Obama Urges Civility, Not Conflict, After Shooting

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama implored Americans to
choose compassion over conflict in the aftermath of the mass shooting
in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six people, including a 9-year-old
girl, and critically wounded a member of Congress.

"The truth is, none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious
attack," Obama said at an arena-filling memorial service yesterday for
the victims of the Jan. 8 rampage. "What we cannot do is use this
tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot
do."

The president used the life stories of the victims and the heroism of
people in the crowd who jumped to their aid as illustrations of the
heartbreak and hope that emerged from the chaotic scene after a gunman
opened fire at a public meeting organized by U.S. Representative
Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head. Thirteen others were
wounded.

A sign of that hope came from Giffords, whom Obama visited in the
hospital before the service. Obama said that after he and first lady
Michelle Obama left her room, Giffords was with three close
congressional Democratic colleagues -- House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi of California, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of
Florida and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York -- when she opened
her eyes for the first time since being wounded.

The overflow crowd in the basketball arena at the University of
Arizona, Tucson, erupted.

"Gabby opened her eyes," Obama said, "so I can tell you, she knows we
are here, she knows we love her, and she knows that we are rooting for
her."

Praise From Commentators

The president's address, melding celebratory tales of the young and
old who lost their lives in Tucson with a televised appeal to a nation
in need of more civil debate, drew widespread praise from
commentators. They agreed that Obama had seized a moment that
presidents before him had found in the aftermath of tragedy.

"It was moving, but it was more than moving," said Peggy Noonan, who
was a speechwriter for Republican President Ronald Reagan.

"It was large-spirited," she said in an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning
Joe" today. "And it spoke from a good height about how this whole
debate about civil discourse didn't get us to that shooting, but a
relooking at our civil discourse and making it better can get us out
of the muck of the shooting."

It was Noonan who had handed Reagan the words of the poet John Magee
Jr. -- "slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touched the face of God"
-- for a televised address to the nation after the explosion of the
space shuttle Challenger in 1984.

'Brilliant approach'

Charles Krauthammer, commenting on Fox News after the president's
speech last night, called it "a brilliant rhetorical approach." On
"Special Report with Brett Baier," Krauthammer said: "The president's
speech was a remarkable display of oratory and oratorical skill, in
terms of the tone and the content."

"It was a very interesting and successful way of advocating a civil
discourse without endorsing those on the left who were talking about
uncivil discourse as a cause of this event," said Krauthammer, a FOX
News contributor.

In a 34-minute speech repeatedly interrupted by applause, Obama
repeated his call for greater civility in public discourse, and he
sought to squelch an increasingly heated debate over whether political
rhetoric contributed to the violence.

'Honest Public Discourse'

"If, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in
more civility in our public discourse," he said, "let us remember it
is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did
not -- but rather because only a more civil and honest public
discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way
that would make them proud."

Obama said it is human nature to demand explanations to "make sense of
out of that which seems senseless." The debates, under way already,
about issues from the motivations behind the killings to gun safety
laws to the nation's mental health system are part of the exercise in
self-government, he said.

The arena was filled to capacity with 14,300 people for the service,
with 13,000 more in an overflow area set up at the university's
football field, according to school officials.

The event mixed somber remembrance and a rally-like atmosphere of
cheers and clapping. As the doctors who treated Giffords walked in,
the audience gave them a standing ovation. Obama drew applause when he
arrived as well.

'Healing Process'

Jerri Boerum, 37, said she kept her children, ages 2, 11 and 12, out
of school yesterday to make sure they would be able to attend the
service and hear Obama's speech.

"I wanted my children to be a part of the healing process," she said
in an interview. "It means a lot that President Obama's here."

In his remembrances of the victims and his appeal for the nation to
aspire to a higher level, Obama highlighted the life of Christina
Green, the 9-year-old killed in the shooting.

He recounted how she had just been elected to the student council and
was "just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she, too, might
play a part in shaping her nation's future."

Christina "saw public service as something exciting and hopeful" and
was at Giffords's event to see a role model, he said.

"I want us to live up to her expectations," Obama said, drawing
applause from the crowd. 'I want our democracy to be as good as
Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined
it."

Presidential Challenges

The task of expressing empathy and providing context in the midst of
tragedy has produced some of the most durable imagery of recent
presidencies: Reagan addressing the nation on the day of the
Challenger space shuttle explosion, Bill Clinton with the families of
bombing victims in Oklahoma City, and George W. Bush amid the
smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center.

The memorial service was held against a backdrop of partisan
skirmishing over how to interpret the actions of Jared Lee Loughner,
the 22-year-old man accused of the shooting, and what role political
rhetoric may have played.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, some public officials,
including Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, criticized
the strident language used by television and radio talk show hosts and
some politicians. Authorities investigating the case haven't
discovered any link to politics in the shooting.

Sarah Palin's Charge

Republican Sarah Palin, while condemning the violence, disputed the
notion that the nation's political rhetoric is overly charged or had
any link to the shooting.

"Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and
pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to
incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn,"
Palin, the former governor of Alaska and her party's 2008 vice
presidential candidate, said in a video posted yesterday on the
Internet. "That is reprehensible."

Obama traveled to Tucson with a delegation of government officials and
a bipartisan group of lawmakers that included Attorney General Eric
Holder, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Pelosi and Republican
Representative Trent Franks of Arizona. Among those in the audience
were retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a former
Arizona judge, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

Holder spoke at the service, as did Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former governor of the
state.

--With assistance from Kate Andersen Brower, Mike Dorning and John
McCormick in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Ann Hughey.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/01/12/bloomberg1376-LEXU6L6JIJV501-5D40TAE7PM9QN4OPVOJ56DA4C7.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1Aw4TBjUq

More:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fg%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F12%2Fbloomberg1376-LEXU6L6JIJV501-5D40TAE7PM9QN4OPVOJ56DA4C7.DTL
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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