Obama’s speech on the Tucson murders

Yesterday, President Obama faced the difficult task of trying to speak to a nation that had been battered by the pundits and talking heads since the murders in Tucson. I call them murders because they appear to be premeditated. I do not believe that the accused will be able to use the insanity defense.

I found myself again going and reading various news stories and blogs. Sadly, I again found that punditry appeared to be winning the battle over reliable reasonable news reporting. But then, I read an article on the Get Religion website and read President Obama’s speech. I found some sanity there. Here are parts of what that article said:

The coverage was flawed out of the gate, with many outlets reporting incorrectly that Rep. Gabby Giffords had been killed in the attempt on her life. From then it quickly devolved into a partisan, political, manufactured debate — also incorrect — that the shooter had been encouraged by Sarah Palin and/or the Tea Party. They couldn’t drop the narrative no matter how many facts came out differently than what they’d assumed at the outset.

I’m wondering if the real problem isn’t that many journalists are only able to understand their work in terms of politics. That’s not to say that there aren’t many legitimate political angles to cover when a member of Congress faces an assassination attempt while hosting an event to meet with constituents. But the way that politics and punditry consumed this story can not be defended.

I will comment in passing that the other narrative that has not been dropped is that one seems to be saying that regardless of what words are used in political discourse, they should never be construed as possible incitement to violence. Both sets of political opponents defined their narratives early and stuck to it.

But, as always, we need to return to our Christian stance. What is it? Oddly enough, let me quote from President Obama, not because he necessarily spoke officially as a Christian, but because he spoke some common sense:

But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

….If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.

…..And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of the nation, in a way that would make them proud.

Rev. Martin Luther King had a difficult sermon to give when he gave the eulogy for the four little girls who were killed in Birmingham in 1963. But, in the midst of his sermon, he gave us some clearly Christian advice when we are faced with evil events:

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith …

I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity’s affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.

Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.