Quote courtesy of PowerLine’s Scott Johnson, who writes:
After Dylann Roof murdered nine pastors and churchgoers in the course of Bible study in Charleston, President Obama couldn’t wait to use the occasion for his narrow political purposes. “Let’s be clear,” he said with urgency in his voice. “At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence … doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it.” The implication, of course, was that additional gun control legislation was required but that his political opponents refused to see the light.
Now we learn in whose power it was to do something about it, and it wasn’t anyone Obama was talking about. The Washington Post reports: “Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine people at a church in South Carolina three weeks ago, was only able to purchase the gun used in the attack because of breakdowns in the FBI’s background-check system, FBI Director James B. Comey said Friday.” The White House, of course, declines to comment.
If there has ever been a smaller man or bigger jerk than Barack Obama holding the office of president, we need to know now.
I could say more but it would be hard to top that.
All he said is that we have a responsibility to work against, to “reckon with,” the very high rate of unjust violence in our nation. Notice that he didn’t use the words “gun,” “control,” “legislation,” or anything stating his political stance. He did so intentionally, to clearly indicate that his point here is non-political. His point here is that we all have to come up with a solution, whatever it is, because these shootings are too awful to be allowed to continue – which I would hope we all agree with, we do have a responsibility to figure this out. I think it was intended to highlight common ground, which shows class and integrity.
Also, Office of the President is capitalized.
Comment by Eddie Willers — July 16, 2015 @ 1:54 pm
Thanks for your comment, Eddie. Always good to hear from you. The issue I (and Scott) have with the President’s statement isn’t the content, it’s the fact he chose to politicize a tragedy – something he always does. Why not just condemn the shooting and offer his prayers and sentiments to the victims? Because he can’t help himself. Politicizing tragedy is in his DNA.
Heck, the White House couldn’t even bring itself to order the flags at half-staff following the shootings in Chattanooga last week. Tells you all you need to know where their sentiments lie.
Comment by The Great White Shank — July 22, 2015 @ 7:11 am