President Barack Obama spoke at a memorial
service for the victims of Saturday's shootings in
Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday.
President Barack Obama's speech at a service for
the Arizona shooting victims came amid an effort
to recast himself as a unifying figure, after two
years of partisan fights.
Soon after he left the podium, it was clear he had
taken another step in that direction.
On Thursday, the speech won praise from a vast
swath of the political spectrum, including
Democrats who have criticized Mr. Obama as
insufficiently liberal and possible Republican
challengers in 2012, among them former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota
Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Some commentators who have spent two years
criticizing the president were lavish with their
praise. Conservative columnist Charles
Krauthammer said he "wouldn't underestimate
how this is going to affect the perception of the
president."
Mr. Obama's speech, televised across the major
networks, combined vignettes of the victims and
heroes of Saturday's shooting rampage with a
call for Americans to practice a gentler style of
political debate.
"The president hit exactly the right tone," said Ed
Rollins, a Republican political consultant. "This
was above partisanship, which is a good place
for a president to be."
The effect may soon fade—as it has for other
presidents after other national tragedies. But for
now, Mr. Obama may be in a better position to
capitalize on an uptick in his popularity during
upcoming clashes with Congress over policy.
After a Republican rout of his party in midterm
elections in November, Mr. Obama had
committed to work across party lines to improve
the economy and take on other challenges. Last
month, he helped engineer a sweeping tax-cut
deal that marked the first major bipartisan
legislation of his presidency.
His approval rating in recent weeks has risen as
high as 50% in Gallup's daily tracking poll, after
sitting in the mid-40s for much of last year and
falling even lower during the polarizing days of
the health-care debate last spring.
Just as President Bill Clinton did in 1995, Mr.
Obama likely will have to rely on public opinion to
bolster him should showdowns arise with the
Republican-led House. GOP leaders there want to
repeal the president's health-care law, limit his
push for infrastructure projects and bring
nondefense discretionary spending down to 2008
levels.
In Tucson, Mr. Obama walked a careful line. He
warned against trying to use the tragedy to
advance either party's political goals —on the left
and the right.
He urged Americans to tone down sometimes-
heated political rhetoric —something liberals have
been pushing since Saturday.
But Mr. Obama said incivility didn't cause the
shootings, a point made by many conservatives.
He suggested that blaming gun laws or any other
cause misses the mark, too.
"What we cannot do is use this tragedy as one
more occasion to turn on each other," he said.
The White House said Mr. Obama would build on
these themes at his next big opportunity to
address the public, in his State of the Union
speech on Jan. 25.
Some analysts compared Mr. Obama's address
to Mr. Clinton's speech after the Oklahoma City
bombing in spring 1995, but there are differences
in the approaches the two presidents adopted in
the face of tragedy.
At the memorial service in Oklahoma City, Mr.
Clinton struck a similar tone to Mr. Obama's
speech in Tucson, when he emphasized the
suffering of the victims. But the next day, Mr.
Clinton went after what he called the "purveyors
of hatred and division" during a speech in
Minneapolis, attacking conservative radio hosts
who "leave the impression, by their very words,
that violence is acceptable."
Mr. Obama has kept his distance from claims that
heated political rhetoric can incite violence.
Mr. Clinton also used the Oklahoma City bombing
to pursue a legislative agenda against domestic
terrorism, said Paul Begala, a senior Clinton aide
at the time. Mr. Obama has indicated he would
not use the Tucson shootings for legislative
pursuits.
But in both cases, the Democratic presidents have
held themselves up as moderate voices, against
the extremists in Mr. Clinton's case, above them
in Mr. Obama's.
Mr. Begala said the trust Mr. Clinton earned with
the public in the wake of Oklahoma City served
him well that winter during his budget fights with
the GOP. That could also be the case with Mr.
Clinton, he said, but months will pass before any
similar showdowns.
Source: Http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307404576080391479851536.html
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