By now there have been so many perceptive, devastating critiques of Obama’s pathetic performance Sunday night in his “terrorism” address that attempting to add another risks imposing cruel and unusual punishment on the reader. Still … I can’t refrain from commenting about something in it that bothered me as much if not more than its woeful failure to reassure us that we are in good hands.
Here are the president’s first words:
Good evening. On Wednesday, 14 Americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and black; Latino and Asian; immigrants and American-born; moms and dads; daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens and all of them were part of our American family.
For this president, it’s not enough to be simply an American.
What if, by chance, all the victims had been native born whites or, heaven forbid, even native born white men. Would the president have still regarded their deaths as such a compelling national tragedy? And why did he mention only “moms and dads; daughters and sons”? Did he check first to make sure no gays, lesbians, or transgender individuals or couples? One can easily imagine the Democratic base complaining that the president’s statement was not sufficiently “inclusive.”
