Obama uses Dallas memorial to confront nation on race

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/287419-in-mourning-dallas-victims-obama-makes-plea-for-unity

July 12, 2016, 03:10 pm
Obama uses Dallas memorial to confront nation on race

By Harper Neidig

President Obama used a Tuesday memorial for five police officers slain in Dallas to confront racial divisions in the U.S., saying that Americans are "not as divided as we seem."

“I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds,” he said.

Obama also gave a nod to activists who have protested what they see as racial bias among law enforcement.

“Race relations have improved dramatically in my lifetime,” Obama said. “Those who deny it are dishonoring the struggles that helped us achieve that progress. But we know that bias remains. We know it.”

Obama said the killings of the officers were an "act not just of demented violence but of racial hatred.”

“It’s as if the deepest fault lines of our democracy have been exposed, perhaps even widened,” he said.

Obama praised the officers, who were “upholding the constitutional rights of this country” during a demonstration against police brutality, despite possibly disagreeing with the message of many of the protesters.

He also applauded Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Police Chief David Brown for their efforts in the wake of the tragedy and for reforming the city's law enforcement.

"In the aftermath of the shooting, we’ve seen Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown, a white man and a black man with different backgrounds, working not just to restore order and support a shaken city, a shaken department, but working together to unify a city, with strength and grace and wisdom," Obama said.

He credited the city for a decline in both murder rate and the number of complaints of excessive force against police officers.

"The Dallas Police Department has been doing it the right way," he continued. "And so Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown, on behalf of the American people, thank you for your steady leadership, thank you for your powerful example. We could not be prouder of you."

The president also said that Americans cannot deny that many see bigotry in their daily lives, even from those who are well-intentioned.

Obama warned against dismissing those who protest against racial injustice, saying that they have legitimate grievances.

“We can’t simply dismiss it as a symptom of political correctness or reverse racism,” he said of the uproar against police killings in Louisiana and Minnesota. 

Obama said that those on both sides of the criminal justice reform debate are united in their grief over the killings in Dallas.

“I see people who mourn for the five officers we lost but also weep for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,” he said referencing the black men whose deaths in police-involved shootings sparked the Dallas protest.

And despite the animosities that the recent violence has revealed, Obama insisted that he sees hope.

In the same breath, Obama expressed doubt that his words would be able to reduce the levels of violence the country has witnessed over the course of his two terms.

"I’m not naïve," he said. "I have spoken at too many memorials during the course of this presidency. I’ve hugged too many families who’ve 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."

[don-o]

God forgive me, I loathe this man.

[mountaineer]

I understand he claimed it's easier for teens to buy a Glock than a book. He is officially an idiot.

[massadvj]

"The Dallas Police Department has been doing it the right way," he continued. "And so Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown, on behalf of the American people, thank you for your steady leadership, thank you for your powerful example. We could not be prouder of you."

If this is true why was the Dem wholly-owned political arm GLM protesting in Dallas to begin with?

[sinkspur]

I understand he claimed it's easier for teens to buy a Glock than a book. He is officially an idiot.

He did, and even the lefties on Twitter are laughing at that one.  Consensus is nobody will listen to a thing he says about guns after a whopper like that.

[skeeter]

Hypocrite-In-Chief

I've nothing to add to that.

[flowers]

Only read this far....."not as divided as we seem." then stopped. Pfft!  *spit*

[r9etb]

God forgive me, I loathe this man.

Yup.  Behavior like his is understandable but irritating when exhibited by an earnest college sophomore.  It's inexcusable for a grown man.

[skeeter]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/287419-in-mourning-dallas-victims-obama-makes-plea-for-unity

July 12, 2016, 03:10 pm
Obama uses Dallas memorial to confront nation on race

By Harper Neidig

President Obama used a Tuesday memorial for five police officers slain in Dallas to confront racial divisions in the U.S., saying that Americans are "not as divided as we seem."

“I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds,” he said.

Obama also gave a nod to activists who have protested what they see as racial bias among law enforcement.

“Race relations have improved dramatically in my lifetime,” Obama said. “Those who deny it are dishonoring the struggles that helped us achieve that progress. But we know that bias remains. We know it.”

Obama said the killings of the officers were an "act not just of demented violence but of racial hatred.”

“It’s as if the deepest fault lines of our democracy have been exposed, perhaps even widened,” he said.

Obama praised the officers, who were “upholding the constitutional rights of this country” during a demonstration against police brutality, despite possibly disagreeing with the message of many of the protesters.

He also applauded Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Police Chief David Brown for their efforts in the wake of the tragedy and for reforming the city's law enforcement.

"In the aftermath of the shooting, we’ve seen Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown, a white man and a black man with different backgrounds, working not just to restore order and support a shaken city, a shaken department, but working together to unify a city, with strength and grace and wisdom," Obama said.

He credited the city for a decline in both murder rate and the number of complaints of excessive force against police officers.

"The Dallas Police Department has been doing it the right way," he continued. "And so Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown, on behalf of the American people, thank you for your steady leadership, thank you for your powerful example. We could not be prouder of you."

The president also said that Americans cannot deny that many see bigotry in their daily lives, even from those who are well-intentioned.

Obama warned against dismissing those who protest against racial injustice, saying that they have legitimate grievances.

“We can’t simply dismiss it as a symptom of political correctness or reverse racism,” he said of the uproar against police killings in Louisiana and Minnesota. 

Obama said that those on both sides of the criminal justice reform debate are united in their grief over the killings in Dallas.

“I see people who mourn for the five officers we lost but also weep for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,” he said referencing the black men whose deaths in police-involved shootings sparked the Dallas protest.

And despite the animosities that the recent violence has revealed, Obama insisted that he sees hope.

In the same breath, Obama expressed doubt that his words would be able to reduce the levels of violence the country has witnessed over the course of his two terms.

"I’m not naïve," he said. "I have spoken at too many memorials during the course of this presidency. I’ve hugged too many families who’ve 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."

I'm listening to the CinC's comments now. Words fail me.

To say he's a political opportunist slug who is utterly beneath contempt is to understate it by a country mile.

[240B]

Obama, Lynch, Hillary, DNC, Soros, and all the Democrats, don't care one little bit that those "White" officers were executed. They only care about what it means to them and their power. They only care about leveraging the situation somehow, to benefit them and their interests.

These people are not human like we think of the word. They have no real human feelings like we do. They are devoid of any soul at all.

[Wingnut]

On the the other hand Pres Bush knocked it out of the park.  Made Obama look like a chump.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCM5mDfl_B8

[Idaho_Cowboy]

I never realized that Police Officer was a seperate race, I've never seen it on any of the government forms. This is just pathetic.

[r9etb]

On the the other hand Pres Bush knocked it out of the park.  Made Obama look like a chump.

And note: he's not watching Teleprompter Tennis. 

[goatprairie]

Once again I demand white liberals be strapped to polygraph machines and asked whether they believe blacks or the police are most responsible for killing black people....under pain of huge electric shock if caught lying.

[musiclady]

Only read this far....."not as divided as we seem." then stopped. Pfft!  *spit*

Yeah........... that, and MORE.

I do struggle with hatred when it comes to Obama.  I really do.   

[musiclady]

On the the other hand Pres Bush knocked it out of the park.  Made Obama look like a chump.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCM5mDfl_B8

It was so good to hear his wisdom again.  Inarticulate though he may be, he gets it.  He really gets it.....

[musiclady]

Obama, Lynch, Hillary, DNC, Soros, and all the Democrats, don't care one little bit that those "White" officers were executed. They only care about what it means to them and their power. They only care about leveraging the situation somehow, to benefit them and their interests.

These people are not human like we think of the word. They have no real human feelings like we do. They are devoid of any soul at all.

Well said.  No soul.

[Wingnut]

And note: he's not watching Teleprompter Tennis.

Very true. 

It was so good to hear his wisdom again.  Inarticulate though he may be, he gets it.  He really gets it.....

I would call his style. "Folksy"   But on whole, yes the man does get it.   

[mountaineer]

Ben Shapiro:

Here are the seven worst moments of his latest opportunistic, highly political, egregiously inappropriate address:

1. Equating The Murders of The Dallas Police Officers With The Killings of Alton Sterling And Philando Castile. This is a trap into which the left has fallen consistently this week. It’s lazy thinking, and more importantly, it’s morally repugnant. The police officers murdered in Dallas were targeted because of their race. We know that for a fact. That is not speculation. They were targeted because they were white. We know virtually nothing about the Alton Sterling and Philando Castile cases. The police allege that Sterling resisted arrest and reached for a gun he was carrying illegally. We have no evidence yet as to what happened with Philando Castile, but there is certainly no evidence that it was a racially-motivated shooting. Nonetheless, Obama said, “I see people who mourn for the five officers we lost, but also weep for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In this audience, I see what’s possible.” Not all killings are equal. But to Obama, targeted killing of whites is equivalent to police killing blacks in disputed circumstances.

2. Suggesting That Today’s Police Departments Are Still Rife With The Legacies of Slavery And Jim Crow. The year is now 2016. Arrest statistics match up precisely with crime report statistics. There is no evidence of systemic discrimination against minorities. But that didn’t stop Obama from stating, “We also know that centuries of racial discrimination, of slavery, and subjugation, and Jim Crow; they didn’t simply vanish with the law against segregation…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….No institution is entirely immune, and that includes our police departments. We know this.” Remember, Obama isn’t just wrong here – he’s saying this in front of the families of officers killed by a black anti-cop, anti-white racist. Despicable.

3. Reeling Off Meaningless Statistics To Indict Police. Obama’s favorite game is to pretend that minorities are unfairly targeted by police, without citing higher rates of criminal activity among minorities. Here was Obama today – again, at a memorial service for fallen officers: “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.” Actually, studies show that blacks speed more often; have longer rap sheets and therefore are imprisoned for longer; and are underprosecuted for murder thanks to lack of police resources in high crime communities.

4. Defending The Black Lives Matter Agenda. Dallas police officers were defending protesters – some of whom were mocking them – as a black anti-white racist shot at them. That didn’t stop Obama from backing the protesters’ agenda, without evidence. “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,” Obama said. “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.” Odd. President Obama dismissed anyone who said he was lying about Obamacare as a kook; he called Tea Partiers terrorists. He’s happy to deny the experiences of people who actually know what’s going on in government, but he insists we legitimize the feelings of people who ascribe nasty motives to the cops without evidence beyond the anecdotal.

5. Pushing Government Spending. Obama stumped for more government cash, of course – but not on cops. On social programs that have failed for generations: “As a society, we choose to under-invest in decent schools. We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful employment.” We don’t “allow” poverty to fester – unless the “we” is Obama Democrats who refuse to fund the cops properly so that they can establish law and order in high crime areas, allowing for investment.

6. Pushing Gun Control. Obama dropped this whopper: “We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.” As I wrote today, you have to have been dropped on your head as a small child to believe this.

7. Ignoring Solutions. This was the key point: Obama thinks that solutions are secondary to talking about feelings. He believes he’s the national psychiatrist. “In the end, it’s not about finding policies that work. It’s about forging consensus and fighting cynicism and finding the will to make change.” This is perhaps the most concise summary of Democratic nincompoopery ever spoken. It isn’t government’s job to heal your soul. It’s government’s job to solve problems like crime. But Obama doesn’t care about that. He thinks he’s a soul-healer, and that government is the Great God-Being that can save us all, so long as we open our hearts to it.

Obama is a petty politician. And he used an important stage to air his petty politics. That’s despicable. And it’s tragic, too, because he’s a politician of unique rhetorical capacity. There were sections of his speech in Dallas that were quite beautiful. But he let his leftism swamp his better judgment, and the result was a moral turd sandwich.

[r9etb]

That’s despicable. And it’s tragic, too, because he’s a politician of unique rhetorical capacity.

Except that he's not.  He reads canned twaddle.  The comparison between Obama and Bush is stark: Bush is by far the better speaker, because he means what he says; and he clearly had a hand in figuring out what he's going to say.

[mountaineer]

Yes, I also disagree with Shapiro's characterization of Obama's rhetorical skills. He can read a teleprompter, that's about it. He can't say anything not written for him.

[Sanguine]

Once again I demand white liberals be strapped to polygraph machines and asked whether they believe blacks or the police are most responsible for killing black people....under pain of huge electric shock if caught lying.

Oooh, I like the electric shock part. 

Grrrr, this IS despicable.  But, the opposite of surprising.

[mountaineer]

Keith Koffler:

Obama’s Pseudo-Eulogy in Dallas
Posted on July 12, 2016, 9:34 pm by Keith Koffler

The man who has done more than anyone to heighten tensions between law enforcement and black communities by repeatedly suggesting wrongdoing on the part of police before the facts were in — and others who are even less responsible hype the charges — came to Dallas Tuesday to give a fake eulogy for the five slain officers.

It was a “tribute” that included indictments of police departments for racism and, of course, a dose of political rhetoric suggesting the need for more gun control.

“With an open heart, police departments will acknowledge that, just like the rest of us, they are not perfect; that insisting we do better to root out racial bias is not an attack on cops, but an effort to live up to our highest ideals,” he said.

Well, it ends up an attack on cops.

The principle reason African Americans are shot by police officers and have bad experiences with law enforcement is that they commit a disproportionate number of crimes. This is because they have been relegated to ghettoes by the very liberal policies Obama supports. But that’s another argument for another day.

What Obama helped do, and continued to do in Dallas, is elevate a relatively rare occurrence — racist cops killing blacks — into what threatens to become a national race war. You’ll hear no tribute from him to the innocent victims of rampant black-on-black violence. That’s the most profound cause for sadness. But instead of facing problems, it’s easier and more fun to relive the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

And, of course, there was the usual call for gun control, with the new twist — born of the tragedy in Dallas — that we need to limit access to firearms so police don’t get confused about who that bad guys are.

“We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book, and then we tell the police ‘You’re a social worker, you’re the parent, you’re the teacher, you’re the drug counselor,’” Obama said.

As Obama made this statement, the police directly behind him did not applaud. They sat there stone-faced. They’re gun owners too.  ...

Obama is about Obama and his agenda, the correctness of which cannot be challenged. It’s self-evident to him that his ideas are right and will solve problems in America. He doesn’t think he is sowing division, because he can’t imagine anyone could disagree with him. He couldn’t for a moment put his views aside and place the feelings of the Dallas police and a grieving nation first.  ...

Read the rest at White House Dossier

[mountaineer]

 Media Give Obama Pass On ‘Gospel Of John’ Error
July 12, 2016 By Mollie Hemingway

Earlier this year, Donald Trump gave a speech at Liberty University where he referred to the second epistle to the Corinthians as “2 Corinthians.” It’s usually, but by no means always, said as “Second” Corinthians. Scottish Christians, such as Trump’s mother, say it the way he did when he read the speech written by Tony Perkins, whom he blamed for the error.

CNN said it was a “mistake that raised questions about his biblical knowledge as he courts evangelical voters.” NPR said he “mispronounced a book of the Bible.”  ...



So what happened when President Obama made an actual mistake in his speech at the memorial for the murdered Dallas police officers?

First let’s look at what he said:

    OBAMA: 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, “let us love, not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.”

  ...  But what is the precise passage from the Gospel of John to which he refers? You won’t find it, because it’s not from the Gospel of John but from an entirely different book of the Bible: The First Epistle of John. It has the same author as the Gospel of John but it is, again, an entirely different book.   ...

More at the Federalist

[musiclady]

Media Give Obama Pass On ‘Gospel Of John’ Error
July 12, 2016 By Mollie Hemingway  ...  But what is the precise passage from the Gospel of John to which he refers? You won’t find it, because it’s not from the Gospel of John but from an entirely different book of the Bible: The First Epistle of John. It has the same author as the Gospel of John but it is, again, an entirely different book.   ...More at the Federalist

I'm guessing Obama doesn't even know there is such a thing as an Epistle of John.

I'm guessing the most Rev. Wright didn't use the actual Bible for his sermons....