Michelle Obama keeping the “Climate of Hate” Nonsense Alive
In a release, which like the memorial service itself, exaggerates the national significance of this weekend’s tragic shootings in Arizona, First Lady Michelle Obama undercuts the President’s message yesterday that the incident had nothing to do with political rhetoric:
[I]t makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in – and the world in which our children will grow up. the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well. The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have – and they don’t lend themselves to easy answers. But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons – about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.
We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis. And we can help them do that in their own small way – whether it’s by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.
We can teach them the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.
We can also teach our children about the tremendous sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country and by their families. We can explain to them that although we might not always agree with those who represent us, anyone who enters public life does so because they love their country and want to serve it.
Like her husband, on the public stage they both play to the middle while wink winking at their allies on the left, allies who in this case libeled the president’s political opposition. Just as the President telephoned Sheriff Dupnik and greeted him warmly before the speech, even though Dupnik was instrumental in spreading the “climate of hate” rhetoric. His wife subtly suggests in her message that heated political rhetoric led to the violence in Tucson.
If her children — or yours, for that matter — ask about what she calls “these issues”, tell them the truth: There are some seriously disturbed people in this world who unfortunately sometimes cause mayhem. Some, perhaps many, could benefit from medical treatment. They are unlikely to seek it themselves, but there are laws to get them examined to see if they need treatment and some people in Tucson, including apparently Sheriff Dupnik, unfortunately failed in their obligations to do that.
Cross Posted on JOM: Thanks for bringing our attention to
the latest sermon from the first lady, Clarice. I dont recall
the wife of any other president becoming such a political advocate.
Even Hillary was careful about becoming so vocal a part of the
Administration message du jour. I might be more tolerant if her
message today was a request for prayers that the victims and their
families will eventually find comfort and peace in their losses.
But making the amorphous those who serve the focus of her message
today is inappropriate in spite of the liberal and conservative
elites almost uniform approval. ISTM like the entire federal
oligarchy, including the establishment institutional punditry
(those in the know) is stung by the success in November of so
many legislators with non-establishment ideas. This also helps to
explain the vituperative antipathy from the same quarters to Sarah
Palin and those who support her. Although Im not convinced that SP
is the best candidate to oppose the Bumster in 2012, I am sure her
message is effectively striking the collective nerve of those
dependent on business as usual in DC. I will not support anyone who
rejects that message or who damns it with faint praise.
Thanks. Jim , in the back of my mind I think Laura Bush wrote a letter to parents about talking to their children. However, it was about 9/11, the first attack on U.S. soil and one which resulted in over 3,000 deaths and the destruction of a major portion of NYC and part of the Pentagon. The incidents were not comparable by any means. And the letter is misguided in substance as well.
iWe can teach them the value of tolerance – the
practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those
around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the
doubt/i It seems to me weve learned that many in Tucson
learned those lessons quite thoroughly. Jared Loughner was a
disturbed young man, but his community college a
href=http://www.pima.edu/newsreleases/nr2011-01/loughnerjan8.shtml
rel=nofollowtolerated him for five years/a, including
five episodes disruptive enough to warrant contact with campus
police over a seven month span. Through all the disruptions, the
increasing incoherence, withdrawal from friends, a
href=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/us/12loughner.html?pagewanted=all
rel=nofollowpolice visits to his house/a, in short
virtually every warning sign a mentally ill young man can provide,
everyone in a position to recognize the potential danger Jared
Loughner could pose and act on it instead chose to assume the best,
and give him the benefit of the doubt. And then he killed half a
dozen people.
Bravo, Clarice Feldman. Like Palin unafraid to state the
obvious and speak truth to power.
Always inserting her two cents at the worst possible moment. Now MO plays at being a psychologist. Where was her parental concern while living in Chicago? Useful fodder for the campaign they kicked off at the memorial pep rally. This was not exactly a national issue, it’s just a leftist issue.
Keep in mind that the lectures on civility and tolerance are coming from people who spent twenty years of Sundays listening to Rev. Wright.
Thanks, JiB.