After watching Obama (34 minutes) and the rest of the Tuscon Memorial Program early this morning, I also watched Bill Clinton’s speech (9 minutes) from the Oklahoma Memorial and George Bush’s remarks (6 minutes) at Virgina Tech. There is a very, very sharp contrast in the tone and content of yesterday’s service and the remarks of Clinton and Bush. It was interesting to see Clinton and Bush both reference the same scripture from St. Paul.
Watch them all and see if you notice the stark contrast.
Obama Speech Video – Tuscon Memorial – 34 minutes
Clinton Speech Video – Oklahoma City – 9 minutes
Bush Speech Video – Virginia Tech – 6 minutes
I had to ask myself this question. If I did not know anything about the shooting and just turned this program on (and particularly Obama’s remarks as a standalone video), what would I think happened? My answer was a shooting at the school and a stump speech on values. I definitely got a weird feeling about the setting and tone of the memorial. Selling T-Shirts at a memorial service? Really?
The crowd was fairly insensitive at the beginning and at times during the speech. That’s not really Obama’s fault. I chalk that up to the immaturity of the college students. It was fairly classless to shout “We love you Obama” from the gallery while the parents of a dead 9 year old girl sat crying in the front row. Obama choked up just a bit when he talked about the 9 year old later in the speech. He probably was thinking about his own daughters at that time.
He seemed somewhat emotionally detached (from the sad tragedy) most of the time – just delivering a speech with his extraordinary charisma. The thing about Bill Clinton is you can see he actually feels the pain. He tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve a bit more. You can see Bush has a deep commitment and heavy heart, too.
I can see why people that support Obama think this speech was wonderful. I can also see why people think much of it was not necessary. We all hear what we want to hear. Obama could have wrapped it up very quickly after the descriptions of the victims. He could have told the story about the 9 year old girl (he told later in the speech) and ended it right there.
The way Obama builds to a crescendo to get a response from the audience seems a little contrived and phony to me. Was it? Who knows? It is his style. On the campaign trail it works, but that style hurts him in this kind of setting. He goes with what he knows. Am I being too cynical? I don’t know.
The people I know that have met him think he is an affable person. I believe he has difficulty connecting at something like this because he it is out of his comfort zone in a religious setting. Just get the feeling he is not really that religious – Not judging, just saying. Clinton and Bush both have a deep religious belief. Obama was probably upset when he heard of the shootings, but Clinton and Bush probably felt the kick in the gut with their tragedies. Those two seem to be able to actually put themselves in others’ shoes much easier than Obama. He talks a good game, but does he really feel it – or does he manage the situation to suit his agenda?
Obviously, Jan Brewer is not as polished of public speaker, but she delivered an appropriate set of remarks as Governor of the State. The words from Napolitano and Holder were well chosen.
The whole atmosphere just seemed odd for a memorial. They were selling T-shirts for heaven’s sake!