All The President's Teleprompters...

The WaPo and the NY Times st the stage for President Obama's address tonight from Arizona.  From the WaPo:

Obama is likely to deliver a speech about tolerance, a theme that could also be featured in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25.

However, with liberals and conservatives assuming their assigned battle stations over whether gun laws and partisan rhetoric are to blame, the White House is undecided about the exact message the president will send.

It is not clear whether ideology motivated the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, and Obama's advisers may conclude it unwise for the president to lecture the nation on mutual respect - which could leave him open to criticism that he is using the tragedy for political gain.

And the Times:

President Obama will focus his speech at a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday evening on the victims of the attack and on the idea of service to the country, avoiding any overt commentary on the debate over violence and the nation’s political culture.

Instead, Mr. Obama, who was still working with his speechwriters on his remarks on Tuesday, will call for unity among Americans, while trying to honor the victims, including their service to government, as an example to all Americans. He will share the anecdotes about the victims that he has learned during private phone calls to the families, aides said.

...

But when Mr. Obama walks onto the basketball court at the University of Arizona at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday night, he will be facing both a challenge, to find the words and the tone that a horrified country will find comforting, and an opportunity, to appear as a leader first instead of a politician.

“The president needs to go to the highest ground here and really be a source of comfort and inspiration to the whole country,” said John Podesta, the head of the Center for American Progress, a policy group that has deep ties to the Democratic Party. “He should, as much as possible, personally stay away from anything that could possibly be accused of politics.”

Well, that is the plan.  And I assume they have reviewed Reagan's Challenger speech, Clinton's Oklahoma City speech, and Bush's address after 9/11.

But I still expect an Epic Presidential Fail.  I think asking Obama to not think about the politics makes as much sense as asking him not to breathe; more importantly, I think a guy who would describe his Republican counterparts as "hostage-takers" really has internalized the Huffington Post /Frank Rich / Paul Krugman world view that Republicans are evil, evil, EVIL.

In addition to those hurdles, President Me will have to avoid the temptation to weave his endlessly self-fascinating personal narrative into this story. 

We will see soon enough.  One would think it wouldn't be too hard for a President to unite the country aroud the ideas that mental illness is bad and violence is worse, but I don't see him doing it while successfully avoiding his condescending, professorial, on the other hand approach.  There shouldn't be another hand here, but Obama will instinctively look for one, and probably settle on criticizing those of us who raise our voices, or some such phrase that will be easily interpreted as a swipe at the right.

Time will tell.  It would be nice to be wrong, but you go to memorial services with the President you have.

MORE:  This is the passage from Clinton's Oklahoma City bombing that will tempt Obama's teleprompter:

To all my fellow Americans beyond this hall, I say, one thing we owe those who have sacrificed is the duty to purge ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to this evil. They are forces that threaten our common peace, our freedom, our way of life. Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind.¹ Justice will prevail.

Let us let our own children know that we will stand against the forces of fear. When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life. As St. Paul admonished us, Let us "not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

That made some sense in the context of a militia bombing,(although blaming Rush Limbaugh did not); it makes no sense whatsover in the case of a madman who saw an orange sky and blue grass.  But I expect Obama to try for something similar, becasue he and I believe different things.

Comments

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Porch, that takes us back to my original point: not liking Palin isn't the same as not conservative. Hell, I know conservative people (my late uncle, for example) who don't/didn't like Palin because she was a squish.

[boris]

"I thought the distinction was clear but perhaps not."

Clear enough for me, just giving Charlie a correction for using the plural "guys".

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Ignatz, you're suffering from the fallacious notion that you define exactly what should be considered conservative.

And don't forget that I actually know Jen.

[Ignatz]

The approval of Ari Fleischer or Ed Rollins means you should seriously rethink whatever position or action it is they approve of.

[boris]

"isn't the same as not conservative"

Since JR was criticized for a SP diss why is that even relevant?

[Stephanie]

Porch, that takes us back to my original point: not liking Palin isn't the same as not conservative. Hell, I know conservative people (my late uncle, for example) who don't/didn't like Palin because she was a squish.

So is it ok to throw her under the bus? I thought the first Reagan rule of politics was sacrosanct, but more allegedly Republicans are joining the witch hunt daily. Many of them will validate the talking points that progs are making and should give them pause. But they can't help it. She's just not one of them and they just. can't. help. it.

If the republicans end up losing this battle for the soul of our country they will be comforted by the fact that they went down pure. The rest of us?

[Ignatz]

--Ignatz, you're suffering from the fallacious notion that you define exactly what should be considered conservative.--

No. I may be correctly or incorrectly perceiving that Rubin has within her recent writings changed her political position or philosophy somewhat, but I have offered no exact definition of what should be considered conservative.
Though I quoted ccal's post, because it was the one I had handy, I was actually more closely referring to Porchlight's observation that Rubin's general tone has changed.

[Rick Ballard]

No, Jane. They fear you. The oligarchy screwed up very badly with the economy (after all, it's a rather old and none too bright group) but the thought of the demos arising from the couch is what is running up the price of Depends for the political class. You've scared the crap right out of them and it's showing up across the political spectrum.

I've taken the caution against inflammatory rhetoric to heart and have vowed to follow the Founders' lead as demonstrated by the followers of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1800. I do hope that the Kendonesian commie bastard in the Oval Office understands that it's not particularly personal but given the depth of his stupidity and ignorance I would imagine that to be a vain hope.

[Jack is Back!]

Sorry but I am outside using my iPad that I have not fully mastered yet and can't seem to delete a LUN and substitute a new one. But I just read in the UofA press release that the concession stands will be open during the memorial service. Who said Obama wasn't focused on the economy? Like a f**king laser, he is!

[Stephanie]

and *that* should give them pause...

preview is your friend.

[Porchlight]

Porch, that takes us back to my original point: not liking Palin isn't the same as not conservative.

Of course, and I said as much before you joined the conversation. I stopped thinking as highly of Rubin because aside from her views on Palin, I'd felt Rubin was squishier and less reliably conservative in her new WaPo role.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

SP was speaking to more than the plight of the victims of Loughlen's craziness. She was defending herself from the scurrilous accusations of her political opponents. Rollins and Fleischer are unwilling to recognize this.

[Extraneus]

After running Christine Todd Whitman's successful 1993 gubernatorial campaign, Rollins told Time magazine: "We went into black churches and we basically said to ministers who had endorsed Florio, 'Do you have a special project?' And they said, 'We've already endorsed Florio.' We said, 'That's fine -- don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. We know you've endorsed him, but don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go on Tuesday to vote for Jim Florio.'" Rollins recanted his story after the inevitable scandal it sparked.

[matt]

one of the great failings of the liberal/left drift in our national polity is the chase towards "personal freedom" at all costs with absolutely no counterbalance of personal responsibility.

The system is designed to maximize the former and minimize the latter. There are no penalties for bad behavior. The current financial crisis is one example. The banks, the finaicial companies and the crokks all walk while a very few sacrificial lambs get a kabuki trial.

In the meantime, President Santa Claus (both Bush and Obama) hands out party treats to every neer do well they can find.

Hundreds of billions were paid in unemployment benefits that simply disappeared in any cost-benefit calculation. Wholesale strategic defaults are the only thing keeping residential RE going.

The mortgage adjustment and foreclosure monolith has been frozen solid by the plaintiff's bar now. Pretty much every monkey wrench that a good Puritan work ethic migh have prescribed has been thrown out the window.

Substitute medical care, public health, DADT, gay marriage, education, etc, etc, etc and basically anything goes with no responsibilities either now or to our collective future.

[narciso]

It was an attack on the Tea Party, and more generally on freedom of speech and assembly,
now Fleischer has done some good work with FreedomWatch, Rollins really has 'refudiated' any kind of lessons he learned as an advisor
to Reagan.

[Extraneus]

[1/10/11: NYT go-to guy] Ari Fleischer, who served as White House spokesman for President George W. Bush, said Ms. Palin had to address the shootings with more than a Facebook post, though he said he would advise her to wait a few days as the political dust settled.

“At a time like this,” Mr. Fleischer said, “what the nation wants more than anything else is for people to rise above the nonsense and the politics and to be gracious. There’s nothing like letting people see your heart, your emotion. Facebook and Twitter don’t convey emotion.”

[Chubby]

((I've never in my life heard any law enforcement officer say anything remotely like this stuff...EVER))

turns the stereotype of the evil, *right* wing sheriff on it's head don't it?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Sarah Palin looks more beautiful than I've ever seen her look in this video of her statement today and, at least to me, she sets the perfect tone. As to the controversy, none other than Alan Derschowitz defends her.

If anything led to this tragic massacre of innocent life, it is the political correctness so rampant in academia. No one can say anything of real substance for fear of offending some thin-skinned wuss somewhere in the world. Not only are we losing free speech, we've gone a long way in eliminating free thoughts as well.

[narciso]

Except it was in part a video presentation, that's why it had much more impact, than a standard facebook page,

[Jane (get off the couch - come save the country)]

No, Jane. They fear you.

How fun is that!

[Chubby]

I'm so grateful for all the intelligence and common sense (and wit) expressed here ... thank you all

[Sue]

I don't give a shit if Jennifer Rubin is conservative, neo-conservative, nano-conservative, or squishy-conservative, there was absolutely no reason for her to go after Palin in the manner she did. She made fun of Palin's speechwriter. For what reason?

You guys know I am not the biggest Palin fan out there but by God I'm fixin' to be. They are doing to her what they did Bush and I am about ready to dig my feet in and go whole hog for Palin, just to piss off the moonbatty left and the elite right.

[Jack is Back!]

You know as a society we place different values on different sectors. It just dawned on me how much we do that unconsciously. I just read where Cromartie called Brady an asshole and trash talked him so bad that Loughner would be covering his ears with a pillow. And then these guys go out on Sunday and do paid, premeditated violence to each other and yet we here nothing from our sports media about the vital and how it is creating a culture of mayhem. Why?

Because that is sport and what they do and what we expect of them. But politics and governing are different. There if you trash talk or use invective they actually believe you need to perform to your rhetoric. I think the answer to this whole complication is put the NFL in charge of the country and politicians and the media to fight it out in stadiums on Sunday?

[Extraneus]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Today's Right Wing Is As Responsible For Rep. Giffords' Shooting As The Right Wing Of 1963 Was For The Shooting of JFK

True.

[Jack is Back!]

Too many iPad spell checks to take care of in the above.

[Stephanie]

Ed Rollins and Ari Fleisher are uninformed rhetoric spewing idiots.

LUN

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

We have created a society, especially for the last couple of generations, where kids (now adults) have been raised in a way that giving a low grade is equated with contributing to low self-esteem so we give no grades at all, kids can't play tag, dodge ball, or play on blacktopped playgrounds because they might scrape a precious knee or the unathletic will feel left out, playing to win is bad because it might make someone on the losing side feel like a loser, so let's give trophies to everyone and reduce society to the lowest common denominator.

What happened to the age-old philosophy, taught to generations of kids: Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me? My parents said that to me over and over. They would not have allowed me to come home and whine about some other kid giving me a hard time. My Mother's attitude was simple, "small-minded words from small-minded people."

[Specter]

Exactly Sara - my kids were taught to stand up for themselves, just as I was. They were taught that competition is a good thing - Mrs. Specter and I chose to raise them that way because they'd need those skills when they became adults. All this "competition is bad for kids" stuff is for the birds....Those kids who end up believing that may end up believing that the grammar police are out to get them...

As for Palin's video - I liked it. I'm not a great Palin fan, but she really hit the tone politely striking back yet showing how to show compassion and use words properly.

[Chubby]

((She was defending herself from the scurrilous accusations of her political opponents. Rollins and Fleischer are unwilling to recognize this))

EXACTLY. I myself have argued on JOM that she shouldn't engage in gutter fighting (because I think it's unseemly for presidents to do that, witness Obama) but that is not what was going on here. She doesn't have to be a doormat, and she has every right to defend herself from malcious, lying smears. Bush didn't do enough to defend himself from that kind of thing. I thought her response was measured, dignified and pointed -- presidential, even.

[Boatbuilder]

Charlie, if you really do know Jen Rubin, you should tell her that her piece was about as far off-base as it could possibly be. Is she as elitist as she sounds? No substance, criticising Palin, her husband and her speechwriter for their alleged lack of "education," wrongly jumping on the "blood libel" bandwagon, citing unnamed "Republican insiders", criticising her for not taking the counsel of political insiders--If I did not know who wrote it I would assume that it was written by Frank Rich or David Gergen. Does she have absolutely no recollection of what happened to Palin during the McCain campaign? Weak--very weak.

[Stephanie]

Charlie, if you really do know Jen Rubin, you should tell her that her piece was about as far off-base as it could possibly be. Is she as elitist as she sounds? No substance, criticising Palin, her husband and her speechwriter for their alleged lack of "education," wrongly jumping on the "blood libel" bandwagon, citing unnamed "Republican insiders", criticising her for not taking the counsel of political insiders--If I did not know who wrote it I would assume that it was written by Frank Rich or David Gergen. Does she have absolutely no recollection of what happened to Palin during the McCain campaign? Weak--very weak. remind her of Reagan's first rule.

FTFY

Again, are we so mighty that we can sacrifice players to the opposition?

[Chubby]

Sara, thanks for the link to the Breitbart site. I loved this comment:

((Thank You Alan Dershowitz

If there were more like you on the left there would exist the possibility of having honest discussions and debate about real issues. Instead, we waste so much time on the contrived, invented, and bogus accusations from the left in an effort to advance their agenda behind a wall of manufactured outrage from the sideshow lineup of one issue victim voters that the progressive/socialist Democrats coral under their "big tent" of false promises.))

[Stephanie]

It is not important whether Palin is elite or not or has the wrong education.

If the establishment republicans are willing to sacrifice Palin, what bodes for you or me?

How many tea partiers are asking themselves that question?

[clarice]

How many establishment republicans see the faces of their colleagues who lost and then look in their rear mirror and see tea party? My guess.... A whole lot of them. Do. Not. Give. In.

[Porchlight]

And don't forget that I actually know Jen.

Bully for you. But we're talking about her writing, not what she's like as a person.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

This compilation illustrates what Sarah Palin and her family have to put up with every day for asking people to use common sense. These are public messages, imagine what she must have to put up with in the private threats and desires of sick minds.

[Janet]

This might be "The Untouchables" exchange narciso was refering to -

Malone: Why do you want to be a police officer?
Williamson: To protect the... people and the... p...
Malone: I'm not looking for the textbook answer. Why do you want to join the force.
Williamson: The force?
Malone: Yeah, why do you want to join the force.
Williamson: Because... I...
Malone: Yeah?
Williamson: ...think I could help.
Malone: You think you could help.
Williamson: ...with the force.
Malone: Thank you very much, you've been most helpful.
[Williamson leaves]
Malone: [to Ness] There goes the next chief of police.

[Captain Hate]

The approval of Ari Fleischer or Ed Rollins means you should seriously rethink whatever position or action it is they approve of.

Did somebody lift off the rock that was covering those two losers up? Seriously, why should anybody care what those two fossilized turds say about anything?

[Porchlight]

My guess.... A whole lot of them.

I wonder if a whole bunch of them have gotten religion, but it's hard to tell because there's so much media noise and we tend to notice what bubbles up to the top only.

We need a project. Each person follows one congressperson and tracks their statements over time, and especially in response to certain events or legislation. Then we can get a better sense of the tea party effect.

[Rick Ballard]

It's not just the pols, it's also the apparatchiks and nomenklatura in both parties who keep bolting up, wild eyed, off of sweat soaked sheets at 3AM with 'You betcha' ringing in their ears.

She doesn't need them at all and she continues to prove it every week.

[clarice]

Kind of like Woody Allen's mom in I forget which of his movies, Rick..You betcha!

[Boatbuilder]

Stephanie--I agree. The reflexive cringing and disowning of non-establishment (or non-MSM-approved) Republicans by establishment Republicans ticks me off no end. Reagan would have slapped them silly. (Violent metaphor alert).

[Stephanie]

Anyone watching and snarking the

My congresswoman got shot in the head and all I got was this lousy Tee shirt political rally?

[But I don't read WaPo so she's lost to me.]

Who pays the piper
Picks the tune by ink barrel.
Wise chameleon.
============

[jorod]

If you want violence, read Robert Remini's book about the house of Representatives.

[jor]

So TM, with your wonderful foresight --- are we going to get a response to obama's remarks? We eagerly await your insightful analysis.

[Wow, you're really a Prick]

You're really a prick, aren't you.