Obama Uses Speech At Dallas Memorial To Talk About Himself

Unsurprisingly, Obama used the memorial for a murdered Dallas police officer to get all sorts of political. He yammered on about racism, blaming Other People. He yammered on about gun control, even saying it was easier to get a Glock than a book. He took shots at the police. As Charles Cooke noted

This, remember, was a funeral — a funeral for one of the police officers who was murdered last Thursday. It wasn’t a rally. It wasn’t a White House press conference. It wasn’t a public statement, hastily arranged on the airport tarmac. It was a funeral. Presumably, those attending had all sorts of political opinions. Presumably, some of the cops were Republicans. Presumably, there was some serious disagreement in that room as to how the country should move forward. Wouldn’t it have been better to wait until the proceedings were over to call for change? Wouldn’t it have been more politically effective for the president to have made his push somewhere else?

Yes, it would

(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 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.”

You can read the whole thing at Time. Then we have this

It’s a tale of two speeches. Say what you will about George W. Bush, the man has a sense of propriety, understanding the situation he’s in, and while Obama was preachy and looked down his nose at people, yammering about himself, Bush was gracious, offering empathy, sympathy, and talked about people coming together. He mentioned the slain police officers almost immediately

At times, it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates too quickly into dehumanization. Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions. (Applause.) And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose.

But Americans, I think, have a great advantage. To renew our unity, we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit – by shared commitments to common ideals.

At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others. This is the bridge across our nation’s deepest divisions. And it is not merely a matter of tolerance, but of learning from the struggles and stories of our fellow citizens, and finding our better selves in the process.

At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are brothers and sisters, sharing the same brief moment on earth, and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity.

President Bush continued on in that vein for a bit longer, before ending with

Today, all of us feel a sense of loss – but not equally. I’d like to conclude with a word to the families, the spouses, and especially the children of the fallen. Your loved one’s time with you was too short, and they did not get the chance to properly say goodbye. But they went where duty called. They defended us, even to the end. They finished well. We will not forget what they did for us.

Your loss is unfair. We cannot explain it. We can stand beside you and share your grief. And we can pray that God will comfort you with a hope deeper than sorrow and stronger than death.

May God bless you.

He understood that this was a memorial, not a political rally, and he talked to and with the people in attendance, not at them like someone else.

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28 Responses to “Obama Uses Speech At Dallas Memorial To Talk About Himself”

  1. Hank_M says:

    Obama didn’t want to be there.
    Obama doesn’t like white people.

    It showed in his stupid remakes and demeanor.

    The country will be a far far better place when he leaves office.

  2. drowningpuppies says:

    The instigator-in-chief shows up at the funeral of 5 murdered police officers and basically says their killer had a point.

    Fuck that guy.

  3. Jeffery says:

    Teach –

    How many times did President Obama say “we”? It was many more times than Bush did, wasn’t it. What does that imply?

    You clearly didn’t read the speech Teach, but do you think The Daily Caller included these two uses of “I” in their count? –

    “I will give you a new heart,” the Lord says, “and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.”

    That’s what we must pray for, each of us. A new heart. Not a heart of stone, but a heart open to the fears and hopes and challenges of our fellow citizens.

    President Obama delivered a remarkable speech and Mr. Bush delivered a perfectly adequate off-the-shelf memorial speech. Big whoop.

    Surprise. You hated the speech from the Black liberal and loved the speech from the white conservative. Without hearing or reading either speech.

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    Scripture tells us that in our sufferings, there is glory, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Sometimes the truths of these words are hard to see. Right now, those words test us because the people of Dallas, people across the country are suffering.

    We’re here to honor the memory and mourn the loss of five fellow Americans, to grieve with their loved ones, to support this community, and pray for the wounded, and to try and find some meaning amidst our sorrow.

    For the men and women who protect and serve the people of Dallas, last Thursday began like any other day. Like most Americans, each day you get up, probably have too quick a breakfast, kiss your family goodbye, and you head to work.

    But your work and the work of police officers across the country is like no other. For the moment you put on that uniform, you have answered a call that at any moment, even in the briefest interaction, may put your life in harm’s way.

    OBAMA: Lorne Ahrens, he answered that call. So did his wife, Katrina, not only because she was the spouse of a police officer, but because she’s a detective on the force. They have two kids. Lorne took them fishing. And he used to proudly go to their school in uniform.

    On the night before he died, he bought dinner for a homeless man. And the next night, Katrina had to tell their children that their dad was gone. “They don’t get it yet,” their grandma said. “They don’t know what to do quite yet.”

    Michael Krol answered that call. His mother said, he knew the dangers of the job, but he never shied away from his duty. He came 1,000 miles from his home state of Michigan to be a cop in Dallas, telling his family, this is something I wanted to do.

    And last year, he brought his girlfriend back to Detroit for Thanksgiving. And it was the last time he’d see his family.

    Michael Smith answered that call. In the Army, and over almost 30 years working for the Dallas Police Association, which gave him the appropriately named Cop’s Cop Award. A man of deep faith; when he was off duty, he could be found at church or playing softball with his two girls.

    Today, his girls have lost their dad, for God has called Michael home.

    Patrick Zamarippa, he answered that call. Just 32, a former altar boy who served in the Navy and dreamed of being a cop. He liked to post videos of himself and his kids on social media. On Thursday night, while Patrick went to work, his partner, Christy, posted a photo of her and their daughter at a Texas Rangers game, and tagged the department so that he could see it while on duty.

    Brent Thompson answered that call. He served his country as a Marine. And years later, as a contractor, he spent time in some of the most dangerous parts of Iraq and Afghanistan. And then a few years ago, he settled down here in Dallas for a new life of service as a transit cop.

    And just about two weeks ago, he married a fellow officer, their whole life together waiting before them.

    Like police officers across the country, these men and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves. They weren’t looking for their names to be up in lights. They’d tell you the pay was decent, but wouldn’t make you rich. They could have told you about the stress

    and long shifts. And they’d probably agree with Chief Brown when he said that cops don’t expect to hear the words “thank you” very often, especially from those who need them the most.

    No. The reward comes in knowing that our entire way of life in America depends on the rule of law, that the maintenance of that law is a hard and daily labor, that in this country we don’t have soldiers in the streets or militias setting the rules.

    Instead, we have public servants, police officers, like the men who were taken away from us. And that’s what these five were doing last Thursday when they were assigned to protect and keep orderly a peaceful protest in response to the killing of Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Philando Castile of Minnesota.

    They were upholding the constitutional rights of this country.

  4. John says:

    Attack the person if you can’t attack the message

  5. Dana says:

    When all of the murdered were male, why did both President Obama and former President Bush refer to their “spouses” rather than their wives?

    On Thursday night, while Patrick went to work, his partner, Christy, posted a photo of her and their daughter at a Texas Rangers game, and tagged the department so that he could see it while on duty.

    His “partner?” I have to wonder: will Officer Zamarippa’s live-in girlfriend get any insurance payment, the way an actual wife would?

  6. John says:

    Any comment on Bush dancing on stage to Battle Hymnn of the Republic ?
    Is that appropriate during such s solemn moment ? Dancing on stage at a memorial ? I can’t recall that bring done before
    As far as kids not getting enough exercise the last couple of years were the first that showed no increase in obesity in kids

  7. Robert What? says:

    Our Narcissist-in-Chief.

  8. Hoagie says:

    You must understand that to a radical leftist commie everything is politics. Memorial services, shootings, guns, religion, bathrooms, light bulbs, toilets and how many kids are obese. Their narcissism forces them into trying to tell everybody what they have to eat, drive, own, etc.. It’s their way of getting even from when they were kids and got beat up.

    • John says:

      Hoagie is going proto Nazi
      He is still seeing Commies everywhere
      Also he doesn’t seem to understand what a narcissist is
      Narcissists by definition have no real interest in others

  9. Bunkerville says:

    Once a Community Organizer always an organizer.

  10. gitarcarver says:

    President Obama delivered a remarkable speech and Mr. Bush delivered a perfectly adequate off-the-shelf memorial speech. Big whoop.

    Surprise. You hated the speech from the Black liberal and loved the speech from the white conservative. Without hearing or reading either speech.

    Clearly you didn’t read the speech and instead chose to cut out the portions of Obama’s speech that have offended so many people.

    Now, I’m not naïve. I have spoken at too many memorials during the course of this presidency. I’ve hugged too many families who have lost a loved one to senseless violence. And I’ve seen how a spirit of unity, born of tragedy, can gradually dissipate, overtaken by the return to business as usual, by inertia and old habits and expediency. I see how easily we slip back into our old notions, because they’re comfortable, we’re used to them. I’ve seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change. I’ve seen how inadequate my own words have been. And so I’m reminded of a passage in *John’s Gospel [First John]: Let us love not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. If we’re to sustain the unity we need to get through these difficult times, if we are to honor these five outstanding officers who we’ve lost, then we will need to act on the truths that we know. And that’s not easy. It makes us uncomfortable. But we’re going to have to be honest with each other and ourselves.

    We know that the overwhelming majority of police officers do an incredibly hard and dangerous job fairly and professionally. They are deserving of our respect and not our scorn. (Applause.) And when anyone, no matter how good their intentions may be, paints all police as biased or bigoted, we undermine those officers we depend on for our safety. And as for those who use rhetoric suggesting harm to police, even if they don’t act on it themselves — well, they not only make the jobs of police officers even more dangerous, but they do a disservice to the very cause of justice that they claim to promote. (Applause.)

    We also know that centuries of racial discrimination — of slavery, and subjugation, and Jim Crow — they didn’t simply vanish with the end of lawful segregation. They didn’t just stop when Dr. King made a speech, or the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act were signed. Race relations have improved dramatically in my lifetime. Those who deny it are dishonoring the struggles that helped us achieve that progress. (Applause.)

    But we know — but, America, we know that bias remains. We know it. Whether you are black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or of Middle Eastern descent, we have all seen this bigotry in our own lives at some point. We’ve heard it at times in our own homes. If we’re honest, perhaps we’ve heard prejudice in our own heads and felt it in our own hearts. We know that. And while some suffer far more under racism’s burden, some feel to a far greater extent discrimination’s sting. Although most of us do our best to guard against it and teach our children better, none of us is entirely innocent. No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this.

    And so when African Americans from all walks of life, from different communities across the country, voice a growing despair over what they perceive to be unequal treatment; when study after study shows that whites and people of color experience the criminal justice system differently, so that if you’re black you’re more likely to be pulled over or searched or arrested, more likely to get longer sentences, more likely to get the death penalty for the same crime; when mothers and fathers raise their kids right and have “the talk” about how to respond if stopped by a police officer — “yes, sir,” “no, sir” — but still fear that something terrible may happen when their child walks out the door, still fear that kids being stupid and not quite doing things right might end in tragedy — when all this takes place more than 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, we cannot simply turn away and dismiss those in peaceful protest as troublemakers or paranoid. (Applause.) We can’t simply dismiss it as a symptom of political correctness or reverse racism. To have your experience denied like that, dismissed by those in authority, dismissed perhaps even by your white friends and coworkers and fellow church members again and again and again — it hurts. Surely we can see that, all of us.

    The differences in the speech by Bush and Obama is stark.

    But once again, in order to try and make a point, Jeffery has to stick his head in the sand and not see all of what happened.

  11. gitarcarver says:

    Any comment on Bush dancing on stage to Battle Hymnn of the Republic ?

    As a person who hates all things religious, it is clear that you don’t know what the song means, what it’s history is and how it affected millions when it was first written and since then.

    Attack the person if you can’t attack the message

    You were saying something jerkwad?

    • John says:

      I lived in a monastery for 12 months
      Tell me how much more religious you are than me
      Please
      Yeah I was saying that I have never heard of anyone dancing to that song before at a memorial service
      Cock holster is that something YOU have done?
      Please post a video on you tube
      Love to see it
      This happened 4 years ago too
      As it became clear Obama was not going to be a one term POTUS GC you became increasingly angry and began more frequent use of slurs
      Your world is crumbling jerkwad

  12. drowningpuppies says:

    I lived in a monastery for 12 months

    No wonder you’re retarded.

  13. gitarcarver says:

    I lived in a monastery for 12 months

    And your point?

    In that you have constantly misquoted the Bible and have no sense of the meaning of anything therein, your time in a “monastery” was not done for educational, religious or spiritual purposes.

    Tell me how much more religious you are than me

    I never made the comparison john. Clearly your accusation is one based on your inability to understand or read.

    What I did say was that you hate all things religious, and I will add the qualifier that you hate all Judeo Christian things. We know that from your past posts.

    Yeah I was saying that I have never heard of anyone dancing to that song before at a memorial service

    Your ignorance is showing.

    Just because you haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened and is not appropriate.

    As it became clear Obama was not going to be a one term POTUS GC you became increasingly angry and began more frequent use of slurs

    That’s laughable john.

    The fact of the matter is that you made a comment about “attacking the messenger” and then did that exact thing to Bush.

    I am not surprised that you showed your hypocrisy and ignorance and continue to do so in all that you say and do.

  14. Dana says:

    John tells us:

    I lived in a monastery for 12 months
    Tell me how much more religious you are than me

    You support abortion and same-sex ‘marriage.’ Clearly, if you lived in a monastery for a year, it must have been as a hired hand with room and board as part of your pay. If you are trying to tell us that you were a religious brother or monk, it clearly didn’t take.

    Let me be clear about this: if you support abortion, you are not and cannot be a Christian, period.

  15. drowningpuppies says:

    I lived in a monastery for 12 months

    Retard misspelled mental institution or as some would call it ‘nervous hospital’.

  16. david7134 says:

    Jeff,
    There is no longer a “rule of Law” in this country. After what the FBI did in letting Hillary off, that ended any law in the US. Now, in stupid fashion you will say something akin to “go out a rob a bank and see what happens”, but even with the minor amount of bet cells that you have, you have to be able to understand what occurred. As to john, it confirms that he spent a year in an asylum as we all know.

  17. john says:

    Please tell me where in the christian Bible it says that abortion is wrong or that a fetus has a soul
    I would ask you to look at the “test of bitter waters” which is when you are allowed to give a sex slave (which of course is all over that book) bitter waters if you suspect she has become pregnant by another
    Jews believe that it is with the first breath taken outside the mother is when God breathes a soul into the fetus which makes that a human with a soul Better reread that book if you are basing your stance on abortion on religion
    The monastery was in Thailand it was a Buddhist
    I know Hoagie hates them something fierce for beating him so bad
    Now GC about the use of a teleprompter i if you watch the whole of Bush’s speech you can see that he carries a binder up to the podium and through out the speech looks down and turns pages
    haha
    Dick wad
    gee it IS fun to hurl insults childish as it seems
    hey did your kid ever get a job or are you still blaming Obama?

  18. Hoagie says:

    The monastery was in Thailand it was a Buddhist
    I know Hoagie hates them something fierce for beating him so bad

    john

    You have to be one of the most ignorant people on earth, john. You know my wife is Korean so you should know she’s Buddhist. In Vietnam no “Buddhists” beat me so bad, they were my friends. But I did manage to kill 79 communist friends of yours.

    You obviously are a liar since had you actually spent time in a Buddhist monastery you would be more respectful to other people, be more at peace instead of being filled with seething hatred, and actually know what Buddha stood for.

  19. gitarcarver says:

    Please tell me where in the christian Bible it says that abortion is wrong or that a fetus has a soul

    Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.
    —Jeremiah 1:5

    Even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His.
    —Galatians 1:15

    For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb… Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
    —Psalm 139:13, 16

    “You shall not murder.”
    Exodus 20:13

    Better reread that book if you are basing your stance on abortion on religion

    Maybe you should read it first before commenting and displaying your ignorance.

    Now GC about the use of a teleprompter i if you watch the whole of Bush’s speech you can see that he carries a binder up to the podium and through out the speech looks down and turns pages

    I have no idea what this is about since in this entire thread only you have mentioned the word “teleprompter” or “binder.”

    hey did your kid ever get a job or are you still blaming Obama?

    There ya go john. Make up stuff. I never said anything about my kid, my kid’s job, or my kid’s job and Obama.

    Not once. Not ever.

    I guess you can’t help being a liar and a hypocrite.

    BTW – ever find that Starbucks in Selina?

  20. Jl says:

    “No wonder you’re retarded.” Bingo!

  21. Hoagie says:

    john, why do you have a need to go after someone personally when he defeats you intellectually? Are you such an immature child you can’t say: “you’re right about the Bible. I was wrong. Sorry”? Not being able to admit you’re wrong is a weakness of character. When you do that you sound like some snot-nose 20 year old kid.

  22. Jeffery says:

    If you were stopped by police 7 times in one year by police for no obvious reason would you start getting angry? Feel put upon by the State? Oppressed? Would you complain that your freedoms were being violated?

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tim-scott-pulled-over_us_5786bfffe4b08608d332eaa0?

    I speed every day and haven’t been stopped by police 7 times in my entire 50 years of driving. Of course, I’m a white guy.

    Perhaps Senator Scott (a Republican from NC) should just shut up and be grateful that the vigilant police didn’t shoot him when he reached for his wallet, and that “we” let him live in our America.

    Perhaps the police are justified in stopping Blacks since Blacks commit a disproportionate number of crimes.

  23. gitarcarver says:

    Once again, Jeffery has issues with reading:

    Was I speeding sometimes? Sure. But the vast majority of the times, I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood, or some other reason just as trivial…

    So the good Senator wasn’t pulled over for “no obvious reason” and he admits it.

    I wonder where the outrage is for the Marine Honor Guard that was stopped and detained by the Capital Police because the police thought their non functioning weapons may be real. (The Marines carry certificates that the weapons are not functional and have their firing pins removed.)

    When I worked in Philly I was pulled over all the time at least once a month for a Terry stop. No crime, no pretense of a crime, just a Terry stop for being in the “wrong area.”

    Is there a problem with police? Yep. Is there a problem with crime? Yep.

    Liberals and people of their ilk have no solutions for the issue other than to blame people for their actions and then try to make honest citizens into criminals for protecting themselves.

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