Obama spoke more like a pastor than a politician, carving out a moment
of calm amid the toxic rhetoric
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jan/13/arizona-shootings-
fallout-live-blog" title="LIVE blog: follow reaction to Obama's
memorial speech here]LIVE blog: follow reaction to Obama's memorial
speech
Jonathan Freedland
Friday January 14 2011
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/13/obama-tucson-speech-pastor-politician
Throughout his presidency a doubt about Barack Obama has lingered, one
that first surfaced during his campaign for the White House that began
nearly four years ago. The fear was that ? for all his oratorical
brilliance ? Obama somehow lacked empathy, that he was a slightly
chilly, aloof figure, that he struggled to connect emotionally.
We'll hear much less of that talk now.
For the address he gave at last night's memorial service for the
victims of the Arizona shootings was elegiac, heartfelt and deeply
moving. It both rose to the moment and transcended it: after days of
noise and rancour, he carved out a moment of calm.
Much of the speech was dedicated to its core function: to commemorate
the dead and comfort those in mourning. He spoke in detail about those
who had been slain, describing them one by one ? the elderly couple
who had lived life as if it were a "50-year honeymoon", the husband
who shielded his wife from the bullets, dying so that she might live.
Most affecting, he spoke of Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old
girl born on 11 September 2001 ? the president, doubtless thinking of
his own daughters, seeming to brim with emotion, at one point emitting
a noise somewhere between a sigh and a suppressed sob.
In all this, he spoke less like a politician than a pastor or priest
comforting a grieving community. The focus on those who had saved
lives was an attempt to offer hope amid the sadness: "Heroism is
here," he said, an echo of his own famous declaration that "We are the
ones we have been waiting for." He reminded his flock of what really
mattered: it was "not wealth, or status, or power, or fame ? but
rather, how well we have loved".
This is part of the US presidential job description that sets the
office apart: more than mere head of government, an American president
is required to be almost a spiritual leader to his nation. Obama
ascended to that role in Tucson yesterday, with no less aplomb than
Bill Clinton summoned in Oklahoma City in 1995.
For all that, such a moment will ? inevitably ? have political
reverberations. This was no ordinary memorial service ? that much was
clear from the cheers and ovations that greeted frequent chunks of the
stadium speech (and that might have grated on some ears). What,
besides proving Obama's ability to empathise, will be the political
impact?
Crude though it is to say so, it will have boosted the president's
standing enormously. After the partisan bickering that followed
Saturday's killings, Obama stepped forward to be what analyst Nate
Silver called "the adult in the room" [http://
fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/a-few-reflections-on-
obamas-speech-in-tucson/" title="">analyst Nate Silver called "the
adult in the room]. This was meant to be the Republicans' week, as
they took control of the House of Representatives and its legislative
agenda. Instead they look small ? as well as defensive, fending off
accusations that it was the violent rhetoric of the right that fuelled
the current toxic political environment. None smaller than the de
facto leader of today's Republican party, Sarah Palin, who preceded
the Tucson address with an aggressive, self-regarding and petty-minded
videotaped message that claimed she had been the victim of a "blood
libel". The contrast between the two performances could not have been
sharper.
Obama looks the bigger person, calling for a discourse that heals not
wounds. That puts him in the place all presidents covet: above the
fray, beyond mere Democrat or Republican. Ronald Reagan got there, but
few others manage it. The challenge will be to maintain that position
into the re-election year of 2012.
But such thoughts are for later. What will be remembered today are
moments like those when he told his audience that Gabrielle Giffords
had opened her eyes for the first time ? moments when only the most
cold-hearted would not have felt a tear. What we saw from Obama in
Tucson will be a defining, even cherished moment in his presidency.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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