President lifts tone of mourning

Presidents go to funerals. They serve as mourners-in-chief. It's part of the job description, and many of them handle the unappealing task beautifully. Ronald Reagan was at his most eloquent at memorials. Bill Clinton's warm hugs could embrace the whole country. George W. Bush delivered his best speech at the National Cathedral after 9/11.

Barack Obama went to Arizona this week to do his duty, to lead the mourning for the victims of a deranged killer who shot indiscriminately at a member of Congress, an elderly couple, a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and others. At the memorial, Obama gave the best speech of his presidency, maybe the best speech of his life.




At nearly 34 minutes, the speech is a little long but still worth watching. The president avoided any political jabs and focused on the victims of the tragedy. He told their stories and linked those stories to the national experience. A father of two daughters, he seemed especially emotional in speaking about 9-year-old Christina Green, who was shot to death by the killer. While some of his speeches in the past have suffered from an "all about me" theme, this one focused intently on the victims. Without pointing fingers at any one person or one direction, he called on the nation to show respect for the victims by raising the political discourse to a level that honors their lives. He asked America to be as good as Christina had imagined it to be. The speech contains a number of good lines, but its overall impact is the best element.

It has been reported that Obama wrote the speech almost entirely by himself, and it demonstrates his rhetorical eloquence. It's a better speech than his Democratic Convention speeches, better than his much-ballyhooed Berlin speech (which in my opinion fell far, far short of John F. Kennedy's Berlin speech to which it was compared) and better than his highly praised speech about race. He appeared to be delivering the speech from printed pages, not the Teleprompter he has read from in the past. His audience enthusiastically cheered his speech at several points (as can be seen in the video), especially his remarks about Rep. Gabby Giffords opening her eyes — remarks scribbled into the speech only minutes before. Perhaps the greatest accolade the speech received was the fact that conservative commentator Glenn Beck complimented Obama and praised the speech.

The eloquence of Obama's appeal should not be sullied by discussion of its potential political impact, but we can all hope that his call for debate without rancorous accusations might be heeded in Washington and throughout the country. Our leaders should be as good and as positive as 9-year-old Christina, who will never get the chance to be that kind of adult leader.