Published by Ulsterman on January 17, 2011 in World Politics
"I cannot reconcile with that kind of behavior in a leader. There really is something missing in him. Some basic element of humanity."
Author’s Note: These questions were emailed to our D.C. Insider, who then responded. Unfortunately, no follow-up was allowed. We hope to be able to do a follow-up soon. Some information was later edited per request prior to final publication.
Question: How would you rate the performance of President Obama’s Tucson Tragedy speech?
Insider: The speech itself was a remarkable display. Very powerful speech. Perhaps the president’s finest moment since taking office. The things happening outside the speech though left many of us wondering who was in charge of planning the event because that environment was almost a disaster. You were right to call into question the t-shirts. That was in very poor taste. The excuse that the Obama administration had nothing to do with those t-shirts is completely false. Every detail is run by the administration on this kind of event. Every last detail. Also, many who had attended were actually coached to be “very supportive” of President Obama. I don’t agree that this should have been “Obama’s Oklahoma”. The media is trying to make it just that, with the full support of the Obama White House/Jarrett. Tucson was a terrible tragedy. Oklahoma was something much-much bigger than that. I find it more than a bit troubling to hear all this comparison between the two events. And regarding Obama’s attitude on this tragedy. Here is something that you will never hear from the media but that some witnessed shortly after the memorial service had finished. Behind the staging area, Obama gave Michelle a “high five” and shared a laugh with her. So within minutes of seeing what is Obama’s finest moment as president it is followed by one of his worst. It is this easy and always there contradiction in the president that concerns me very very much. He was just thrilled at his performance. That was priority #1 for him. It always is. The motivation for his speech was not to heal following the tragedy, but to further appeal to the public and get their approval of him. It’s similar to that story I told you about Obama coming into the military meeting at the WH. He came in laughing and left early laughing. Maybe a photo of the high five will be released? I was told one was taken at any rate. I cannot reconcile with that kind of behavior in a leader. There really is something missing in him. Some basic element of humanity. Or humility??? Even by DC political standards the human element in Obama seems to be utterly absent. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. And that scares the hell out of me. So that’s my assessment of the Tucson speech. Read More
