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January 13, 2011 07:07 PM UTC

Obama's Tucson Memorial Speech

  • 81 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Courtesy PBS Newshour, in its entirety (H/T to our friends at the Washington Post):

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81 thoughts on “Obama’s Tucson Memorial Speech”

    2. After the speech, even Palin’s colleagues at Fox News had to admit that the president had hit it out of the park. “A memorable display of oratory and oratorical skill,” fierce Obama critic Charles Krauthammer admitted.

      Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, veteran Democratic speechwriter Robert Shrum neatly summarized the Obama-Palin disparity: “At the end of the day, after listening to the president, we’ll know why he’s president and she never will be.”

      http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailyb…

  4. Just kidding.  Great speech.

    I think Obama was surprised (as I was) at the tone of the memorial. though.  I had a friend text me and ask during one of the earlier speakers “Hey- when is the mascot going to rappel down from the rafters?”.

    I especially liked this part (emphasis mine):

    And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that 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 our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.

     

    1. I think most of us agree with you, and have since Saturday and even before, that political rhetoric does not cause a madman to pull out a gun and shoot someone.

      But, again, that’s not the point of the debate over civility in our politics.

      The point is two-fold: first, when we demonize each other, and when we use violence-laden language, we send the message to each other that we do not have to respect each other’s ideas and values. Second, although words cannot cause someone to perform a violent act, they can seem to say to someone who is functioning at a level somewhat below rational that they may have an excuse for their action.

      Let us all take seriously what the President said last night: it’s important for our future, and for our children, that we discuss our problems and challenges in a manner that would make them proud.

      1. Sorry, but that’s the bottom line, as I’ve said all along.

        I generally don’t have too many issues with civility, although every now and then I disappoint myself.  This lesson wasn’t aimed at people like me, on either side of the aisle.

        1. Good. I’m not really big on it anyway, and right wingers can’t apparently even be forced into honest civility by Sarah Palin’s disgracefulness.

          Let’s cry crocodile tears together.

    3. And agree about the part you especially liked. Very graceful and effective in acknowledging the value of a renewed dedication to civility for the right reasons without marring the occasion with any hint of divisive political point scoring. Hope a few of our less classy public figures were taking notes.

  5. part of his opening statement:

    …I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.

    He captured my thoughts and feelings from the beginning.

    1. I think that people just grieve in different ways. I felt a mixture of sorrow and hope, and I think that’s what caused the raucous nature of the crowd.

  6. What I don’t understand is if the shooting wasn’t caused by “uncivil” politics, then why is every liberal and press enabler yammering about barring “uncivil” speech (meaning speech Democrats don’t like) from political discourse?

    Wait, I know! Because it’s a sham!

    2. Words have meanings.  The precise meaning of certain words is terribly important to understanding what someone says.

      You say “barring” – that means legal banning.  Most of the discussion going on right now isn’t about legal changes, but rather about self-imposed introspection and moderation.

      You define “uncivil” speech as “meaning speech Democrats don’t like”, but you conveniently ignore that any legal restriction must pass the Republican-controlled U.S. House.

      Your words indicate you think this is an abridgement of the First Amendment, but the most restrictive speech legislation I know of to step from this shooting proposes to extend the restrictions already in place against violent imagery referring to the President to also cover Congressional members and candidates.  That would almost certainly be affirmed as Constitutional by the Supreme Court.

      And your words indicate you believe liberals are being disingenuous by both denying that the shooting was caused by ugly speech while at the same time proposing that we change that speech.  You call it “a sham”.  But with that statement you close your mind to what many of us are thinking on the Left, which is neither that the shooting was caused by overheated rhetoric nor that we should ban wide swaths of speech as a result.  To many of us, “caused” isn’t the right word; even “influenced”, “inspired”, or “encouraged” are too strong for what most of us believe about the relationship between Loughner’s actions and violent political speech – but I believe that speech probably at least reached the level of “subliminal acknowledgment”.  And most of us would like our free speech rights left intact, Thank You Very Much; thinking about our words and their effects on others, as the President suggests, should be enough.

    3. I felt there were two different points to be made, so I split them up.

      I do not believe many of us, left or right, believe that uncivil discourse caused Loughner to shoot Rep. Giffords and those attending her public service event.

      But I do think that such overheated rhetoric – particularly when it evokes revolutionary, violent, or particularly dehumanizing/demonizing statements – re-enforces, develops, and perhaps legitimizes in the mind of someone who might do these kinds of things that violent actions might be valid or even required.

      No-one is saying that Glen Beck or Sarah Palin ordered or suggested to Loughner, directly or even indirectly, to shoot Gabby Giffords.  What some of us are saying is that, faced with an ongoing stream of “second amendment remedies”, “putting a crosshair on these districts”, and “government is evil” rhetoric, the chances of accidentally and subtly encouraging or even inspiring someone like that to violence is much more than non-zero.

      The President, of course, focused much more on the positive aspects of improving the civil discourse.  His task last night was to give an effective memorial speech, and he did.  And his philosophy in general is much more focused on reconciliation than on confrontation.

      I take a different approach.  There’s no sense in denying that people on the Right have invested a good deal of effort in demonizing the institution of government itself, and by extension all those who work for it.  Ignoring this basic negative meme is like ignoring half of the army on your opponent’s battlefield; you cannot move past divisive rhetoric in to reasoned dialog when reasoned dialog has been outflanked and is about to be surrounded.  The Right used to say that limited government is healthiest.  That is a position from which the Left and the Right could come together and discuss while retaining their differences.  But how can we discuss the running of our country when one side says that the government is nothing but a problem impeding the running of our country – a ludicrous statement upon reflection, unless you assume that this country will run Just Fine as an anarchy.

      We must step back from the absolutist, demonizing crap that many of us are spewing and begin to realize that everything works better if all parties are willing to come to the table with honest disagreements rather than with demagogic hard-line stances.

      1. I do not believe many of us, left or right, believe that uncivil discourse caused Loughner to shoot Rep. Giffords and those attending her public service event.

        The President did.  In fact, he went even farther and said:

        “It did not.”

        I know it’s not fitting the paradigm, but it’s reality.  Just as I said from the moment it happened.

        1. Words mean things.

          I meant exactly what I said.  And what I said is no different than what you want me to re-iterate from the President’s comments.  Speech, simple and alone, didn’t cause Loughner’s actions.  Now, since you missed the rest of the comment in your haste to refute it…

          Do you deny that someone listening to a biased news source day in and day out to the exclusion of other sources is likely to acquire that bias?  Can you say that someone exposed largely to nationalist propaganda isn’t at all likely to trend toward nationalism?  Could you say that filling our childrens’ textbooks with facts of a certain bias doesn’t influence those children – and if you can, then why is the Texas Board of Education spending so much time excising “liberal” figures and inserting Ann Coulter into the dialogue of the children it is supposed to be raising with critically sharp minds?

          How do you propose we as a nation, state, or local community govern if not through the institution of government?  How is a multi-partisan institution supposed to function if not by having all sides come to the table with rational disagreements and mutual concerns?

          Our country, without E Pluribus Unum, reverts to a mythical Wild West frontier that largely didn’t exist, of lone gunmen, outlaws and individual lawmen fighting amidst a crude rabble.

          2. Not in this case.

            From everything we know about this, he was not tilted into action by political rhetoric, heated or otherwise.

            Do you dare doubt the judgment of the OneВ®?

                2. There are a number of people out there over the past several years even who have killed for their political beliefs, as evidenced by the FP’d diary on “isolated incidents”.

                  That these people are individually unbalanced or misled isn’t in doubt, but they are IMHO the canary in the coalmine warning us that we are straying too close to danger.

                  Loughner’s actions may not have been “for” the Left or the Right, but they were apparently driven by his politics and his dissatisfaction with Giffords as his Representative.  We ignore that political aspect at our societal peril.

              2. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that 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 our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud

                LB likes to pull our progressive chains and will remain adamantly opposed to any suggestion that there is any danger whatsoever in the increasingly graphic and specific, not just metaphoric, war and gun imagery and the calling out of our President as an America hating terrorist lover so beloved by today’s right but this, to me, is a window into LB’s dirty little secret.  He really does yearn for more humanity and civility in our political discourse and that yearning must reflect awareness of something he’d rather not admit. As far as I’m concerned, LB, you’re busted.  

                1. I try to practice civility.  Sometimes I fail, but I give much more of it here than I get (You are not uncivil to me).

                  I’m not the one that needs the lesson, and I won’t take one from people who were screeching (again, not you) that Sarah Palin had blood on her hands from this event.

                  I agree with the President.  We should all be nicer to each other, and that’s where it ends.  

        2. Seriously, between this mascot bullshit, this “One” bullshit, and this “I don’t read your comments but respond anyway” bullshit, you’re acting like a little child who just persuaded mommy that his sister hit first.

          2. That mascot comment was hilarious.  That’s exactly what the mood of that event was last night, and I think it was unsettling to some of the speakers there, including the President.  He rose above it, though, and gave a great speech, highlighting the fact that nobody other than Loughner is responsible for shooting anyone down there.  End of story.

    4. but you have to admire the sheer gall of this liar to proclaim without a shred of evidence to back up his claim that liberals want to “bar” uncivil speech.

      Liar!

      No one wants to “BAR” uncivil speech you fucking asshole.

      What people want are rational solutions to the problems of our day.  Unfortunately the lying Republicans don’t have any new ideas so all they can do is recycle their old hatreds and pretend that “someone” is going to attempt to forcibly deny them the bitter experience of being consumed with hatred for fellow Americans who have a different perspective than they do.  What a pathetic piece of shit to have to invent “barring” as an excuse to continue his hatreds.

      Liar!

      1. I’m sure all the women who post here just love it when you call people “pussies”.

        Rep. James Clyburn has already brought up the “Fairness” Doctrine, and another Dem Rep. brought up the idea of a bill that banned certain images and terms from political advertising.

        I’m sorry – what did you say about being consumed with hatred?  

        1. GOPjerk owes everyone in this forum an apology for trying to use this tragedy to play the victim.  Typical Republican bullshit when it is obvious that no one will take your guns or try to prevent you bastards from spewing their hatred.  The dude owes us an apology

          Hatred is pretty much the only thing Republicans sell anymore which is why you folks are so alarmed at the mere possibility of being asked to tone it down.

          Of course a good Pro-Life Pharisee like you is committed to making sure that the violent rhetoric of the right will continue for ever because in your heart of hearts you believe in war and violence as the ultimate solution to human conflict which is why you rush to defend this dreg.  You’re just another Judas dude.  A traitor to the Prince of Peace.

            1. try this exercise in righteousness.

              Every time you are in church and scripture refers to a Pharisee or you hear the word Pharisee do not equate that ugly corrupt soul who stood on street corners and pronounced with arrogant certainty his spiritual superiority with your daily persona.

              When you hear the word Pharisee do not immediately think of yourself and your petty worship of the false idol, The God of Guns.  Don’t make that association between yourself and those who crucified the Savior.

                1. The Second Amendment was never not part of the Bible.  It doesn’t exist in either the Old Testament or the New.  As close as you can get to a Second Amendment right is Cain slaying Able because of his jealousy and pride.  As a matter of fact, the tenets for following the Way don’t include buying extended ammo clips that are designed to kill humans.  Anyone who believes otherwise should get spiritual counseling.

        2. How dare you people try to hijack the bodies of the dead to feed your insatiable egos and the need to use every situation to bolster your sense of paranoid persecution?  You are not the victim in this situation no matter how stupidly you try to convince yourself that someone is out to get you and take your precious liberty to hate away from you.

          You lie when you say the issue is about you and how you are an innocent victim of evil liberal plots to take away your freedom.  Fuck you and your need to feel persecuted.

          GOPjoke owes everyone in this forum or offer some credible evidence that his mental illness in believing he is always being persecuted is in any way credible.

              1. but posting lies to reinforce this phony narrative that there is a vast liberal conspiracy that is going to take away his “freedoms” was too much to take.  It was not right to desecrate these lives by attempting to use their deaths to stroke his paranoid vanity that he was being personally persecuted by all the liberals in the land.

  7. was very moving.

    When he spoke about Christina, and said “I want to live up to her expectations. I want this country to live up to our children’s expectations,” he struck the right note for me and I’m still thinking about it today.

    I was also struck by this:

    “What we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other.”

    Talking about those that died, those that survived, those that stepped up in individual, incredible ways was what this was about and I think he and all of the other speakers there hit exactly the right tone.

  9. Really?

    You stop at “but,” which tells me that you don’t care what else I have said.

    I’ll use that word again – “but.”

    But caring what someone else is saying is step one in having a civil conversation.

    Without a civil conversation, we have no conversation at all.

    With no conversation, we cannot reach agreement or work together or learn to trust one another.

    So, please, Laughing Boy, don’t stop at “but.”

    1. You stopped at “but” with my response, too.  Is there a reason?  Is it because, as you say to CM, “this lesson doesn’t apply to you”?

      Perhaps we’re not talking about lessons, but rather about the broader scope of our current political and media environment.  I’d like to have that discussion with you.  And at that, I’ll repeat CastleMan’s words:

      Without a civil conversation, we have no conversation at all.

      With no conversation, we cannot reach agreement or work together or learn to trust one another.

      1. After using the word “but”, you just negated your initial agreement that the “rhetoric” wasn’t responsible for the shootings.

        It wasn’t responsible, and that’s all.

        Who in their right mind would disagree with you about having a civil discussion?  

        You were very active in promoting this when Bush was in office, right?

        1. I’m not repeating myself again just so I can watch my words fall on deaf eyes.  If you choose to read something other than the plain (and exhaustively commented) meaning of my words, I can not (and will not) help.

          Instead, let’s take this in a different direction based on this response…

          As for civil discussion during the Bush years (or at any time prior or since), if you think what I said was uncivil, I’d be happy to apologize for those moments (and have for at least a couple) – no-one is perfect.  But I will not (and don’t expect anyone else to) apologize for expressing disagreement in clear terms that stress the nature of my disagreement.  For example, I stand by my own opinion (and that of a number of internationally recognized humanitarian agencies) that the Bush Administration, and specific individuals within it, committed war crimes and should be tried for them.  I stand by my personal opinion of Bush (backed by his actions and words) that he was an extremist anti-public-land advocate.  I stand by my opinion (backed my economic analysts of both sides) that the Bush tax cuts were irresponsible and would (did) lead to an explosion of the Federal debt.

          None of what I just wrote is “uncivil”, nor does is put me in a position similar to anti-government rhetoric where I cannot come to a reasonable understanding with reasonable political opposites.  I don’t expect you, anyone on the Right, or anyone on the Left or anywhere else in the political spectrum to shut up about their political beliefs.  But, like the President, I am asking for a toning down of the hyperbole, of the demagoguery that says “my way or the highway”, of the “I don’t care why I said it, it gets me what I want” political statements.

          1. You’re very restrained in your tone.

            I think we should all be civil. I try to be.

            But, like the President, I am asking for a toning down of the hyperbole, of the demagoguery that says “my way or the highway”, of the “I don’t care why I said it, it gets me what I want” political statements.

            Right, and I hope he heeds his own advice.

            1. Right, and I hope he heeds his own advice.

              Just exactly what are you inferring?

              Considering the venom that has been thrown at him for the last 3+ years, he is the absolute model of civility.  I suspect that you are expecting that if he disagress with the Boehner bunch that that is uncivil, regardless of his civil tone.  Sorry, he belives if disagreeing without being disagreeable and practices it every day!

    2. No offense intended (I am sincere in saying that) but There is nothing more after saying that nothing other than Loughner himself is responsible for the shootings.  That’s it, end of story.

      And yes, we should all use this event as a catalyst to be nicer to each other.

      But that’s it.  You (the collective lib voice here, not you in particular) needs to get over the obsessive need to give a lesson to the right about ‘angry talk’ because it’s everywhere.  Both sides of the aisle, always has been, always will be.

      Now let’s move on, please.

      1. Why is it that you, and not the clear majority of folks on this site, get to determine the agenda?

        Want to move on?  Fine.  Why don’t you throw up a diary about what a great job John Boehner has been doing, or something else that grabs your interest and then everybody who wants to move on with you can.

        That’s what all this has been from you?  Telling folks they’re mistaken for not following your inclinations.  “Move on” might be some good advice; heed it.

        1. Didn’t mean for it to be as snotty as you took it.

          Again, this isn’t you, but some of the least civil people on this blog are still whining about Palin and her civility.

          Civility begins with me.  Or you, or the individual.

          What I’m hearing is “That goddamn stupid bitch Sarah Palin needs to be more civil!!” and it’s cracking me up.  There are people on this blog that must just be beside themselves today that Obama basically said what I did.

            1. LB, it’s not about you.

              One problem, imho, with a certain class of people in our body politic, those who somehow don’t understand they are part of the fabric of The Commons, is their self-centered orientation.

  10. I, of course, have been checking out right wing radio to hear the response.  So I offer the following observations to help LB out, as he is evidently single-handedly having to carry the ball for the righties…

    1) The response on right wing radio has been feeble…not quite up to the usual bellicose standard.  

    2) EXCEPT, Rush is now doing a Wellstone…playing excepts from that Memorial which the repubs used brilliantly to defeat the dems in Minnesota and win the Senate.

    3) Laura is complained about the “tone,” of the Memorial

    4) Several complained about the “blessing” ceremony at the beginning…having no concept of religious rituals and traditional beliefs out here in the beautiful high desert.

    5) The best that boyles, usually our points on go-to-guy, was to say that someone should tell Obama that we have a republic and not a democracy.

    6 ) Rosen basically ignored it……couldn’t remember when Owen was governor.

    1. Truly in the gutter.  He began by praising the wording of the President’s speech, then quickly went downhill criticizing not only the Tucson crowd’s cheering but also the fact that Secretary Janet Napolitano failed to quiet the crowd (huh?).  Then it got even worse – Brownie literally said that Secretary Napolitano should get her head out of her @$$, and then said he wouldn’t say what he wanted to say next about her, because his mother, wife and lesbian friends wouldn’t like it (I am not kidding).

      All this from the guy whose top priority was to get a new shirt when he was going to be on camera after the New Orleans hurricane and flood.

      http://www.commondreams.org/he…

      Is this the best KOA radio can do???

      1. “They were slobbering over it for the predictable reasons. It was smart, it was articulate, it was oratorical. It was, it was all the things the educated, ruling class wants their members to be and sound like.”

        Talking about praise for Obama’s speech from main stream media,  MSNBC, CNN ? Nope.  This was directed against a “slobbering” Fox News panel featuring Charles Krauthammer, Chris Wallace, and Brit Hume. Even Beck had nice things to say about this speech but good ol’ Rush, he never disappoints, does he?  

      2. They are doing very well, thank you. Their only liberal talk show host…on for one night a week….was “suspended” for a month right around election time….

        Those of us who remember, sadly, when KOA was the station you turned on for news of a disaster or severe weather….should be reminded that “those were the days.”…

        not now.

        I turned on the radio Saturday pm as we were in the car and had heard on TV about the shooting….KOA had reruns of Rush…I thought maybe there had been a coup de tat…..

        We did not know if other Congresspersons had been attacked; if there were warnings about going to malls…etc. etc.

        Thanks Clear Channel. Thanks very much.

  11. and President Obama’s speech twice last night.  I’m still replaying it in my mind today.

    It’s been like spending time with a cherished old friend that I’ve seen far too little of for the past two years.

    1. I think Obama got a little lost in the obsessive quest for getting big things done with bi-partisan support,  changing the DC atmosphere, doggedly sticking with it even when it was clear the best that could be done, and that unlikely, in his early fights was going to be turning just Susan Collins. He seemed obssessed with winning points with  Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Health insurance, showing he was just as tough as any R as a war time President.  

      To be fair he was left with a huge mess in every area;  the economy, the wars, the corruptionin the financial sector, you name it.  The Bush presidency left a truly astounding degree of damage in its wake, some of which may no longer be repairable in the foreseeable future if ever. A very tough intro to a first term.

      He wound up relying on some very bad advice,losing big chunks of the forces that elected him, deflating the base and not getting any of the opposition factions he spent so much time wooing to like him one iota more. Yesterday he got to do what he does best and what the country needed most. It was nice to see, nice to feel and the positive reaction, not just from Dems, was nice to see and feel, too.      

    2. I was in a hotel room in Scottsbluff, NE.  The tv was on and tuned into the DNC, but I wasn’t really paying attention.  When Obama started, I thought, “Who is this guy and how’d he get such a big speaking part?” and went back to whatever I was doing.  

      Then something he said caught my attention.  I can’t remember if it was the part about “We’re not red states or blue states, we’re the United States…” or something else, but I was rapt from that point on.  There were parts tof his speech hat brought me to tears and parts that made me want to jump up and cheer out loud.

      Last night’s speech struck me the same way and reminded me why we all worked so hard to get him elected in 2008.  This is the Obama we elected as President.  

        1. I had to spend a full 7 weeks in Scottsbluff that summer (home on weekends, fortunately) and then 3 days a month for the next 3 years.  That first seven weeks almost killed me.  I gained nearly 10 pounds in that time.  It seemed like a sort of alien assimilation process – like becoming part of the Borg against my will.  I came to refer to the 3 day trips as my “Monthly Trip to Mars.”  

          NPR provided a thin lifeline between Mars and normalcy.

          1. I’ll see your 7 weeks and 36 days, . . . and raise you 27 years, 8 months, 22 days, and 6-1/2 hours (with a little time off for college and military service) — international terrorists get off with lighter sentences than I served.

            Besides, If you’d been somewhere that had anything to do, you probably would have missed that 2004 DNC speech.

            (And, BTW, who doesn’t enjoy a 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive through missle-silo country?)

            1. You have my deepest sympathy.

              Congratulations not only on your escape, but for getting out without having suffered the obligatory conservative brainwashing.  Phew.

      2. Last time I stayed overnight in Scottsbluff was in the 70’s. Summer job with U of N.

        On the plus side, I had a job. Oh, and Magic Fingers was a mere $0.50.

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