The President wants to save us from ourselves.
I have no doubt that the people who assembled at Newtown High School found comfort in President Obamas words on Sunday night.
But make no mistake (as Obama is so fond of saying). The President didnt only come to Newtown to pay his respects to those who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday morning. He also came to lecture the nation and to save us from ourselves:
This is our first task caring for our children. Its our first job. If we dont get that right we dont get anything right. Thats how as a society we will be judged.
And by that measure can we truly say as a nation that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that were doing enough to keep our children all of them safe from harm? Can we claim as a nation that were all together there letting them know that they are loved and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that were truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
Ive been reflecting on this the last few days and if were honest with ourselves the answer is no. Were not doing enough. And we will have to change.
Since Ive been President this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. The fourth time weve hugged survivors. The fourth time weve consoled the families of victims. And in between there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country almost daily reports of victims many of them children in small towns and big cities all across America victims whose much of the time their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We cant tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex and that is true. No single law no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society.
But that cant be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that has visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that then surely we have an obligation to try.
In the coming weeks I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We cant accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that were powerless in the face of such carnage that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?
So President Obama says we arent doing enough and said not once but twice that we must change. But we must ask how Obama want us to change. Sure he says that he will use his office to engage stakeholders. He also pays lip service to the argument that new laws wont eliminate evil or senseless acts of violence. But whenever Obama says that inaction isnt an option you can be sure he wants to do something regardless of whether it actually works or not. Given that he has asked his cabinet to come up with proposals to reduce gun violence (including the possible reinstatement of the ban on assault rifles) can there be any doubt how Obama wants this country to change?
This isnt to say change shouldnt come. But it has to be the right kind of change. President Obama can ban guns and assault weapons all he wants. Obama can no more stop gun violence than he can calm the oceans. As I have argued previously if strict gun control was all it took to stop gun violence then Chicago should be the safest city in the entire country.
Although the massacres in Tucson Aurora Oak Creek and now Newtown were horrifying spectacles many of the homicides we see usually involve only one victim and are often over the most trivial of matters. How often over the past quarter century have we heard about children murdered over their shoes? Just last October a 12-year-old girl in New Jersey was murdered by two teenaged boys for her BMX bike. If President Obama wants to engage the nation on gun violence then we must come to terms with why so many young people (especially in the inner cities) believe that life is so cheap that they are prepared to take another life over material possessions.
Unless a concerted day-to-day effort is made to change the attitudes of young people concerning material possessions while instilling the proper values in its place then President Obamas efforts will amount to nothing more than a shot in the dark.