Obama’s “shout out” just after Ft. Hood shootings showed a strange disconnection to the attack.
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Obama’s
Frightening
Insensitivity
Following
Shooting
By Robert A. George
November 6th, 2009
NBCCHICAGO.COM
____(links are in GREEN)
President Obama didn’t wait long
after Tuesday’s devastating
elections to give critics another
reason to question his leadership,
but this time the subject matter
was more grim than a pair
of governorships.
After news broke out of the
post in Texas,
the nation watched in horror as
the toll of dead and injured climbed.
immediately and by late afternoon,
word went out that the president
would speak about the incident
prior to a previously scheduled
appearance.
At about 5 p.m.,
cable stations went
to the president.
The situation called for not
only his trademark eloquence,
but also grace and perspective.
But instead of a somber chief
executive offering reassuring
words and expressions of
sympathy and compassion,
viewers saw a wildly disconnected
and inappropriately light president
At the event,
a Tribal Nations Conference
hosted by the Department of
Interior’s Bureau of Indian affairs,
the president thanked various
staffers and offered a “shout-out”
to “Dr. Joe Medicine Crow —
that Congressional Medal
of Honor winner.”
Three minutes in,
the president spoke
about the shooting,
in measured and appropriate
terms.
Who is advising him?
Anyone at home aware of the
major news story of the previous
hours had to have been stunned.
An incident like this requires a
scrapping of the early light banter.
The president should apologize
for the tone of his remarks,
explain what has happened,
express sympathy for those slain
and appeal for calm and patience
until all the facts are in.
That’s the least
that should occur.
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