Obama criticized for gun control comments during Dallas memorial speech

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Oliver Darcy - Business Insider


http://i.imgur.com/hFBV1SG.jpg

President Barack Obama was criticized on Twitter for a statement about guns during a speech in Dallas to honor the victims of last week's attack.

After delivering a set of unifying remarks, Obama veered into more controversial waters.

"It's easier for a teenager to get his hands on a Glock than it is to get a computer or even a book," the president said.

Obama also addressed the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile last week, saying Americans of all walks of life should be able to understand the pain their families are experiencing.

The comments prompted conservatives, and some media observers, to knock the president.


Agree or disagree, the second part of Obama's speech polarizing. Felt like a State of the Union for a moment based on who was applauding
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) July 12, 2016

How am I surprised Obama would use a memorial for police to lecture about gun control and politics? He is the worst.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 12, 2016

….aaaand now Obama’s speech has veered into a political, divisive speech. Wow, what a strange turn after such unifying comments.
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) July 12, 2016

What a ridiculous claim about easy access to guns
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) July 12, 2016

This was a pretty good speech up until about 10 mins ago. Kind of a trash heap now.
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) July 12, 2016

Cops murdered by racist. Obama eulogizes them by lying about cops and gun control. What a nasty piece of goods.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 12, 2016

disliking Obama's habit of giving divisive political speeches after tragedies is tantamount to hatred. https://t.co/VNqCHuux0K
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) July 12, 2016

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By John Podhoretz - New York Post


How do you ruin a great speech?

President Obama gave us a master class in doing just that Tuesday at the memorial service to the five Dallas police officers gunned down last week.

For 15 minutes, the president’s speech was — and this is a word I use advisedly — magnificent. It was elevated and powerful and profoundly moving.

And it was unifying, genuinely unifying, in the way the president made clear our commonalities with the police officers whose lives were ended — and our differences, in the sense that they engaged in personally perilous work dedicated to making the rest of us safe that most of us would never dream of attempting.

Most important, he defended the United States against the assertion made so frequently over the past week that the nation is crumbling:

“I’m here to say we must reject such despair. I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem.
“I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds. I know we’ll make it because of what I’ve experienced in my own life, what I’ve seen of this country and its people as President.

“And I know it because of what we’ve seen here in Dallas — how all of you, out of great suffering, have shown us the meaning of perseverance, and character, and hope.”

I was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, and like all those who have had the inestimable privilege to help craft a president’s words, I’m a connoisseur of the form. Despite his reputation as a stemwinder, Obama has not given an address in his seven years that any serious student would elevate into the pantheon of American oratory.

But as the president’s words flowed and deepened in Dallas, I was sure I was listening not only to the best remarks of his presidency but possibly one of the great presidential speeches of our age.

This was true even though he was making certain arguments with which I did not agree — but because his tone was so beautifully modulated and his argumentation so civil, the president himself got me to listen, pay attention, and respect the seriousness of his contentions.

And then he blew it.

He blew it by going on for almost 25 more minutes, repeating himself endlessly, and broadening his specific focus to a more general preachment about how “we” need to “open our hearts” on the subject of race.

As usual, Obama made strange use of the word “we,” because when he says “we,” he means “you,” and when he means “you,” he means people who aren’t as enlightened and thoughtful as he and his ideological compatriots are.

Worse yet, the excessive length gave rise to a few extraordinarily ill-conceived flourishes that would have been discarded from a more contained and controlled final speech.

By far the most jaw-dropping was his assertion that it’s easier for a poor kid in a struggling neighborhood to get a Glock than a book. That’s not presidential. That’s Bill Maher, or Trevor Noah.

At Gettysburg in 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave the greatest of all presidential addresses. It is little noted that Lincoln was not the keynote speaker.

The stemwinding orator Edward Everett was. He went on for two hours. No one remembers what he said. Lincoln spoke for three minutes and his words are chiseled on the American soul.

In the course of his speech in Dallas, Obama began like Lincoln and ended up like Everett. He was a national healer who became a crashing bore.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By David Hasson - The Daily Caller


President Obama referred to himself 45 times over the course of the speech he delivered Tuesday at the memorial service for the five police officers killed in Dallas last week.

Obama referred to himself twice before finishing his opening salutations and before mentioning the slain officers or their families. After noting the presence of President Bush, members of Congress and Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings, Obama appeared to go off-script.

“Chief Brown, I’m so glad I met Michelle first because she loves Stevie Wonder,” Obama said, jokingly referencing Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s earlier speech in which Brown quoted lyrics from the song “As” in tribute to the deceased. The president looked around the room, pointed at Brown and cracked a grin while the audience laughed at and applauded his joke. “Most of all, the families…” Obama said, proceeding with his speech.

Obama would refer to himself 43 more times throughout the speech — most of which he personally wrote, according to the LA Times — including one instance where he referred to himself in the third-person: “the president.”

“Politicians calculate how to grab attention or avoid the fallout. We see all this, and it’s hard not to think sometimes that the center won’t hold. And that things might get worse. I understand. I understand how Americans are feeling. But, Dallas, I’m here to say we must reject such despair,” he said later.

“I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem. And I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds. I know we’ll make it because of what I’ve experienced in my own life. What I’ve seen of this country and its people, their goodness and decency as president of the United States,” he continued.

The president also referred to himself while lamenting the apparent inefficacy of his own rhetoric. “I’ve seen how inadequate my own words can be,” he said.

The president has faced scrutiny in the past for his habit of talking about himself during national speeches.

[FBD]

cant wait to see this organ grinder operator go the fuck home

[Pony]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJeZV2XJB8