Say Anything Blog

Quite the contrast, no?  In Washington DC the liberals were using the tragedy at Fort Hood as a political poker chip in their efforts to make us all dependent on government health care:

“He was absolutely inspiring. In a very moving way, he reminded us what sacrifice really is,” said New Jersey Rep. Rob Andrews, estimating the persuader-in-chief turned several votes.

“Sacrifice is not casting a vote that might lose an election for you; it is the sacrifice that someone makes when they wear the uniform of this country and that unfortunately a number of people made this week,” said Andrews.

“It made a lot of people feel a little less sorry for themselves about their political problems,” he added. “This is an emotional time for a lot of our folks politically, but this is politics and I think he correctly pointed out what’s a heck of a lot more important.”

Meanwhile, in Texas, the former commander-in-chief quietly paid a visit to comfort the grieving at Fort Hood:

Last night former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura made a secret visit to the devastated military families at Fort Hood.

The Bushes instructed the commander of the mourning military base that they wanted no publicity. With their Secret Service detail, Bush and his wife made the 30 mile trip unannounced from their ranch near Crawford, Texas Friday evening.

Fox News broke news of the visit this afternoon. Other sources said the former first couple spent about two hours meeting with the wounded, family and soldiers, talking quietly and at times hugging them as they did in private at other times of crisis such as post-9/11.

I know that government health care is an important part of Obama’s political agenda, and that seeing it get crammed through to a vote in the House with as little debate, scrutiny and transparency as possible is key to that agenda, but couldn’t Obama have at least spared a few hours for the folks at Fort Hood?  Couldn’t he have at least dispatched the first lady?

And yes, such moves are symbolic, but symbolism from our leaders is sometimes as important as action.  And this was one of those times.

Couple this with Obama’s utterly tone deaf initial comments about the tragedy (which he finally made after several minutes of giving shout-out to some fellow liberals in the crowd) and you begin to see a man who is less a leader and more a celebrity prone to gaffes and mistakes when not given the proper prompts by his handlers.