Obama should have been harder on the left for its smears
He did add to his prepared remarks that incivility did not cause this tragedy, but he stopped short of a full rebuke of the complete irresponsibility of those who have been stoking anger at conservatives who—as far as we know—had nothing to do with this.
When the president did lay blame, it was on Americans in general. Among the many odd assertions he made: suggesting that “what a tragedy like this requires” is that “we align our values with our actions.” We were told to “expand our moral imaginations.”
Huh?…
Let’s be clear: How we “treat each other” also is not what caused this shooting. Mental illness combined with a gun and a 33-round high-capacity magazine collided to produce a tragedy. This may not have been the venue to discuss this in such pointed terms, but it also should not have been used as an opportunity to push further into the media bloodstream the lie that hostile rhetoric or incivility even played a role in this, let alone caused it.
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Alternate headline: Strange New Respect for Kirsten Powers?
JeffWeimer on January 13, 2011 at 8:09 PM
Showing, once again, that the women, even the socialist women, have more b*lls than virtually all Republicans and their right of center mouthpieces.
james23 on January 13, 2011 at 8:09 PM
He knows the elite media will continue their attacks on his critics. What, me worry?
d1carter on January 13, 2011 at 8:13 PM
Strange New Respect indeed.
Maybe she’s been off the Kool-Aid for a while.
It was stolen by a bunch of republican pundits…
the_nile on January 13, 2011 at 8:14 PM
Go KP. I’d have been so much better w/ Obama’s speech if he’d have called out the left for their blood libel. He didn’t even have to call it blood libel. Just a recognition that the left attacked Sarah Palin in an unjust and unprovoked way, which put her life in danger.
Paul-Cincy on January 13, 2011 at 8:14 PM
She is right.
Missy on January 13, 2011 at 8:16 PM
Wow! Bullseye Ms. Powers!
AshleyTKing on January 13, 2011 at 8:19 PM
The left will now put Kirsten on a hit list now. Oh, was that incendiary talk? So What!
mizflame98 on January 13, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Holy cow! There are two Kirsten Powers?
JohnJ on January 13, 2011 at 8:29 PM
She’s been all over the extended mag issue. She was stoking that fire on Hannity last night.
she flies under cover of being an Alaska girl whose father owns guns and which she has shot, so isn’t anti-gun. Don’t be fooled.
Alternate headline-IT’S A TRAP.
a capella on January 13, 2011 at 8:29 PM
Nonsense, Obama!
Americans in general were not to blame. Only one person is to blame.
One does not align his or her “values to … actions”. Rather actions align to morals.
MackDaddy, expand your own frickin’ moral imagination. You voted to let babies die a horrible, solitary death on a cold, steel table. Your actions reveal your perverted morals.
You are a truly despicable man, and you dare lecture good moral Americans? The steel on which babies die is stainless–unlike your hands.
*spit*
davidk on January 13, 2011 at 8:31 PM
KP becomes Olbermann’s worst person in the world in 3, 2, 1 . . .
smellthecoffee on January 13, 2011 at 8:38 PM
Thank you Kirsten. All Barry had to do last night was call out his base for the shameful attacks they made on his behalf last week and he would have truly been Presidential. Of course he didn’t do that. He let this golden opportunity pass . He gave his base cover by including the right with his tone down the rhetoric nonsense – rendering the entire speech meaningless. A political victory for Barry was more important to him then a moral victory. Now Barry seems smaller then ever to the millions of Americans that oppose his policies.
DeweyWins on January 13, 2011 at 8:47 PM
Why are you guys cheering? KP still left the door of doubt open.
Knucklehead on January 13, 2011 at 8:53 PM
KP is the only lib pundit who has called out her own side on this issue. Hopefully she will inspire others.
Mallard T. Drake on January 13, 2011 at 8:53 PM
I don’t think I have heard this from any other commentator. It is a very important identification she has made. Once again, if you read between the lines, as Powers has done, Americans are at fault. That is the real libel here.
AshleyTKing on January 13, 2011 at 8:53 PM
While I appreciate some of the sentiment, I have to disagree with Kirsten. Obama’s overall tone was very appropriate. It would have been equally as wrong for him to chastise the left/media during a memorial service as it has been, all along, for the left/media to blame right-wing rhetoric.
As far as more gun control… I strongly disagree with this solution. But, once again, a memorial service isn’t the appropriate time and place to advocate or debate gun laws or anything else.
JCred on January 13, 2011 at 8:58 PM
KP is further right than National Review and Hot Air. Who woulda thunk it?
Southernblogger on January 13, 2011 at 9:01 PM
I actually agree with you.I had to give Kirsten some praise on it though.
Southernblogger on January 13, 2011 at 9:03 PM
Uh…wow.
WTG KP!
powerpro on January 13, 2011 at 9:03 PM
She’s just saying that because she has the hots for Allah, after all.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on January 13, 2011 at 9:06 PM
Woah, KP is in near total agreement with Mark Levin!
RedRedRice on January 13, 2011 at 9:08 PM
I like Dan Quayle, I do. Some laugh at this quote, but I like it:
When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame.
Paul-Cincy on January 13, 2011 at 9:12 PM
Update on that from AP would be nice. He does have his fans who live through him.
Paul-Cincy on January 13, 2011 at 9:13 PM
I really hate it when she is right.
huckleberryfriend on January 13, 2011 at 9:16 PM
He also could have been harder on himself for his divisive rhetoric, but I’ve not seen that happen yet. For Obama, “teachable moments” are for the everyone else, while he’s the teacher.
paul1149 on January 13, 2011 at 9:16 PM
I didn’t catch that at first. Take those five words out and it is perfect.
AshleyTKing on January 13, 2011 at 9:18 PM
I think she’s married, but it’s never inappropriate to make a cheap joke about KP & AP.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on January 13, 2011 at 9:19 PM
That’s a fair point, but he could have found another venue for his Big Speech. He should have, anyway. The “memorial” setting (I use that term loosely since it was such a circus) insulated him from having to really lay it on the line. He could just be gauzy, which he was.
Missy on January 13, 2011 at 9:28 PM
I see where you are coming from, but a couple of things come to mind.
- It was appropriate, if not necessary, for Obama to speak at the memorial.
You and I agree that the crowd was sometimes inappropriate. However, it’s hard to pin that on Obama; his demeanor was appropriate throughout.
- Obama is still Obama.
He is a hyper-partisan. Obama loves to use exaggerated rhetoric against his “hostage taker” opponents. The President criticizes his base only when they are critical of him. The gravity of this event was serious enough that he recognized the inappropriateness of participating in/endorsing finger pointing. Obama’s willingness to condemn the lies, however, does not extend to condemning the people telling them.
JCred on January 13, 2011 at 10:45 PM
Could it have killed Krauthammers of the world to make this simple point?
promachus on January 13, 2011 at 11:17 PM
He made this point with much greater emphasis, but all shrouded in an attack on Sarah Palin for poor timing, or something. He said something to the effect of “the left humiliated themselves with their political attacks and were being savaged by those in the know until Sarah P launched her counterattack; she pulled defeat from the jaws of a major victory”. I paraphrase.
Jaibones on January 13, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Hey, um, she’s um, hot… errr
MeatHeadinCA on January 14, 2011 at 1:09 AM
But FNC isn’t a legitimate source of news according to Barry.
BHO Jonestown on January 14, 2011 at 2:21 AM
I’d be more impressed if she said something on day 1.
Kind of like what a leader would do. Otherwise, its finger in the wind and cut your losses!
Lonetown on January 14, 2011 at 4:54 AM
Jeff nails it off the top.
ted c on January 14, 2011 at 7:43 AM
Very well done, Kristen. But the point is not what the headline says, that “Obama should have been harder on the Left for their smears”. Her larger point is that Obama blamed all of us for crimes committed by a madman, crimes which none of us bare any responsibility for.
Buy Danish on January 14, 2011 at 8:32 AM
Welcome back KP, even though we all expect your stay to be a short one.
booter on January 14, 2011 at 8:47 AM
She is still the only Liberal who has a brain.Even when I disagree with KP,she usually makes a good argument(except when she goes up against Megyn Kelly).
In this case she is spot on.
Still our favorite Liberal.
DDT on January 14, 2011 at 9:00 AM
In rebutting Obama’s blaming all of us, Kirsten should have quoted at least the Reagan part of Palin’s speech:
I’m revolted with ‘society’ being blamed for the insanity of a few. That liberal blame everybody meme has gotten really old. If everybody is to blame, it absolves the truly guilty.
marybel on January 14, 2011 at 9:43 AM