After listening to the speech President Obama gave at Ft. Hood on on You Tube (part 1, part 2 and part 3) I was impressed by his dignity and grace. The speech was a good one, not great, but his demeanor was all you could expect from a Commander-in-Chief addressing the troops and the Nation after such a tragedy.
Sadly, not everyone agrees with my assessment.
First up the Wall Street Journal. Their headline sort of tells you all you need to know about what they thought of him today:
Obama Delivers Largely Unemotional Speech at Fort Hood
On to Pajamas Media, who doesn’t believe Obama hates terrorists enough:
America, the West, and Israel are all fighting back in a war that radical, jihadic Islamists, (not Muslims) have declared against us. […>
Nevertheless, today, a half hour ago at Ft Hood, President Obama did not pronounce the following words: “Jihad.” “Terrorism.” “Islamist terrorism” or “Islamic terrorism.”
Yeah, not enough about the War ion Terror in the speech, was there? Not enough about “Bring ’em on” and “Dead or Alive!” In other words he wasn’t the Warmonger-in-Chief like W used to be.
It goes downhill from there …
Here’s a commenter at Breitbart.com who thinks the family members of the murdered soldiers should blame Obama for what happened at Ft. Hood and refuse to shake his hand because he refused to call the Ft. Hood tragedy the “radical act of a Muslim” and that he was more concerned about Major Hasan’s mental health than about the people who died. No, really.
This is going to be pretty harsh, but I think it is important to address this overlooked truth. If I were a family member, I would decline to shake hands with Barack Obama and I would say the following:
“Sir, the blood of my son/daughter is partially on your hands. And I need you to listen to me for the good of our nation. Mr. President, words mean things. During the campaign, you repeatedly committed that you would end the “unjust” war in Iraq, and bring our soldiers home. Mr. President, Nidal Malik Hasan believed your words. Now, I know you cannot be responsible for every nut job that hears a campaign speach, but when you sell your soul and lie to you your base to collect votes, you have to realize those lies have a day of reckoning. That day of reckoning arrived in the most tragic way on the doorsteps of my family.”
“Mr. President, had you been a true patriot, and had your political party not accused our soldiers of being the true enemy, over and over, this killer would not have had any reason to believe that you were going to end a war that he detested.”
“Furthermore, Mr. President, you have done a tremendous disservice by not standing up and calling this what it is: A terrorist act. An act of a radical Muslim. You, your FBI, your administration, and the vast majority of the press are more concerned about what the Army did or did not do to the mental health of Major Hasan than you are concerned about what Major Hasan did to members of the military.”
“Sir, you had no problem jumping to conclusions about a white police officer “acting stupidly” in arresting a black professor in Cambridge, MA. You had no problem sending your Atty. General out to practically declare war on Christians after one nut job shot an abortion provider in Kansas. But you refuse to call this an act of radical Muslim Terror? Mr. President, what the hell is wrong with your world view? Why do you refuse to see the evil in the war we are fighting? We are not unjust in our efforts in Iraq, and we need more immediate support in our Afghanistan efforts.”
“Sir, I will not shake your hand, and I will not call you Commander-In-Chief. Please examine your soul and take future actions to help me change my mind.”
Yes, that was harsh. But maybe not as harsh as this bitter little soul. Take a look:
It’s been 5 days since the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. They have had numerous memorial services in addition to a big one on Sunday in a stadium on Fort Hood. So, another memorial service has been scheduled for today and Obama is going to attend. Why did Obama wait so long to decide to go to Fort Hood? Is this just another photo op for him like the “concerned President saluting the fallen soldiers at Dover”?
By the way, President Bush and Laura Bush visited the wounded victims and their families on Saturday at Fort Hood. They told the Base Commander that they wanted no press coverage and wanted to keep it quiet.
I love that last part, about Bush wanting to keep his visit quiet. Wonder how everybody found out about it? It’s a mystery, I guess. Just like its so gawdawful that Obama waited five days to allow the families to grieve on their own and prepare for a proper visit by the POTUS, not a sneak in the night visit. As I recall the day the massacre happened he said that he would allow the Army and the families time to prepare for a Memorial service he would attend. Because preparations to have all the families flown in to Killeen, Texas, provide security for the attendees and the soldiers on base, and provide a private space where he could meet with the survivors and the families just might take some time to organize properly.
Bush probably would have done a flyover and waved from 30,000 feet high, like he did after Katrina. No, what am I thinking? He would have dressed up in one of his pseudo-military uniforms and been there the next day screaming for “Death to Al Qaeda!” (but not his friends and business partners in Saudi Arabia, of course). And his speech would have been in Prime Time, not in TV’s mid-day waste land. Hell, one think Bush did well was photo ops. Remember the Bullhorn standing on the Pile of Rubble at the WTC site hanging onto a Fireman like his life depended on it?
Yeah, that was so much better, wasn’t it? Bush was much more dignified and all that jazz. Too bad were stuck with this Obama guy now, eh? What a damn shame for all the “Real Americans” (whoever they may be).
now, eh?
Someone, somewhere, needs to put up a big clock, like the NY Debt clock, that reads “Hours, minutes, seconds that there has been a n*gger in your White House.
I used to think, ‘yeah, they’d do it to any Democrat’, and Clinton used to catch a lot of unhinged shit, true but I’m coming back round to it just being the man’s skin.
The United States of Rock Ridge.
True.
They would do some of this to any Democratic POTUS, but his skin tone allows them to dig a little deeper into the hate pit. Just follow that link to the comments, and what they call Obama, and how they refer to him (and his wife), shows how they really feel.
They just cannot help themselves. It’s what they are.
If they regain the house in 2010 we are in BIG trouble in this country.
nalbar
So Bush shows up but “doesn’t want cameras”. Isn’t that to validate by implication what Cheney jr. said about him going to Dover without cameras? sick.
As far as bloviators criticizing him goes, the military and families know better; both Michelle and Barack have supported them since day 1.
Seriously. Where was Dubya when my high school friend Steve caught an RPG while on patrol near Basra and ended up coming home in a box?
Oh yeah, he was on one of his fucking vacations.
Conservatives only honor the fallen in order to encourage more lower- and middle-class kids to go fight wars for the benefit of the rich. Fuck them.
So sorry to hear.
Let ’em attack, let ’em talk themselves into a lather, and if they get even a little bit cock-eyed within eyesight of the president then let the Secret Service fulfill their duty with extreme prejudice…
Some of these people want war and more war and to wrap themselves in the flag and call for more war and to criticize everyone who doesnt dance to their tune. And yet how many of them have ever had to fight in one?
Sometimes I despair at the number of war mongering fools there are in this country.
And we should rememebr who started these wars without any real strategy or aim and who by doing so consigned thousands to death for nothing and created tensions and contradictions within our own people as well as making us bigger targets to others.
Obama today was measured and respectful and low key. That is what was needed not some cowboy war mongering lunatic who wants to use every opportunity including even the most somber to justify perpetual and idiotic wars. Those who use times like this for such things are disgusting in the extreme.
These war mongering, crazy for combat, super Americans are like a deadly virus threatening the well being of the entire world. Their insane nationalism knows no bounds; I fear it may well bring the ultimate disaster upon us all — nuclear conflagration. Radiation respects no religion nor ethnic boundary; it destroys every life form and every sentient being. This is why war is so pointless and so incredibly stupid; it may be the end of all of us.
Marc Ambinder proclaims it the best speech since the inauguration. He also claims to have gotten a chill up his leg.
I sort of felt the same way. I thought it was very good.