Biden faces pressure to 'name and shame' following Buffalo shooting
by Naomi Lim, White House Reporter |
| May 17, 2022 07:00 AM
President Joe Biden is facing pressure to couch the weekend's Buffalo, New York, shooting in the harshest possible terms and link it to his political opponents as some Republicans point fingers at others in the wake of the attack.
Biden is expected to meet family members, first responders, and community leaders in Buffalo on Tuesday after 10 people were killed in a supermarket shooting spree. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, but Democrats are encouraging Biden to talk tougher, and reporters are needling the White House on naming and shaming people they say promote the so-called Great Replacement theory.
All public figures, not only Biden, have "an obligation" to condemn the Buffalo shooting as domestic terrorism in the same way former President Bill Clinton did after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, according to Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. In particular, Seawright pointed to Biden's claim that his 2020 campaign was prompted by the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, violence and his administration's framing of white supremacy as domestic terrorism.
"Words do matter," he told the Washington Examiner. "Words matter in terms of the healing process and how we move forward. It is an act of malpractice for any leader — a black or white, Democrat or Republican — not to call these things for what they are because otherwise, it gives a license for these things to be repeatable."
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-faces-pressure-to-name-and-shame-following-buffalo-shooting
