Did anyone see this? Obama led off his address to the nation regarding the Fort Hood shooting with some light banter and a "shout out." Bizarre.

YouTube - Fort Hood Tragedy -- Barack Obama Gives Odd "Shout-Out" Before He Comments on Massacre -- FOX News

Once he got around to speaking about it, he handled it fine ... But otherwise he just doesn't seem to "get" what the situation called for.

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You're exactly right. At the very least, he should have separated the 2 speeches by 15 or 20 minutes and, of course spoken on the events at Hood first.
The way he handled it shows insensitivity at best, a direct loathing of the military at worst.

I'm pretty sure Obama can't even scratch his nose correctly for diehard rightwingers.

I watched the Fox News clip. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way he handled it. He wrapped up the Native American conference, admitted he had to cut it short, and proceeded to discuss the tragedy.

If he had reversed the order, it would have seemed odd to talk about the tragedy and then go back to wrapping up the conference as though nothing had happened. I'm sure he would have been critiqued by the right for doing it in that order as well. If Obama himself had flown to texas and single-handedly taken out the shooter he would be critiqued for doing it wrong.

When you send an apprentice to do a skilled tradesman's job, this is what you get.

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Want government run healthcare? Join the military.

You make it sound like it is better for him to get in what he wants to despite the tragedy, and ordered it so as not to allow the tragedy to over-intrude over his priority of the moment. I disagree, the most appropriate way to address it would have been to start off acknowledging the tragedy with something to the effect of "before I beging my prepared remarks" addressed the tragedy, then gone on to give a very abbreviated (and stripped of any jauntiness) address om the topic at hand, or even to limit it to a very brief thank you and promise to follow-up on the work before dismissing himself with his apologies.

Something to the effect of:

'I want to begin today by commenting on the tragedy we experienced down in Fort Hood, Texas.....I am sure that you will understand that this situation requires my attention and I will be unable to deliver my prepared remarks. Let me say briefly before I go that I understand you are doing important work at this conference, and you have my thanks for that, and I promise that the issues you face will have all the appropriate attention of my administration. Thank you'

Or, if he wanted to delivery his full remarks, or even a slightly longer abbreviated set of them, he should still have started with his remarks regarding the shootings, then finished those remarks by calling for a moment of silence, and then gone on to make his remarks on the topic at hand (but again, stripped of any juantiness)

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Well if liberals can lambaste Bush for listening to a story about "My Pet Goat" after being informed of the 9-11 attacks (even though he says his reason for doing so was not to alarm the kids), then we conservatives can decry Chairman Obama for doing shout outs and giving thanks to Dr. Crow instead of immediately talking about a major military base being under attack.

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"Democracy passes into despotism." - Plato

Had he done it exactly according to what you suggest (which would have been fine as well), I'm 100% certain he would have been critiqued for handling it that way as well. Rightwingers hate Obama, and nothing he does can ever be correct, it all has to be bad.

Well, when he handles such a situation appropriately we will see, won't we.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Hmmmmmmmm.......you seem to be correct. I'm a conservative (right winger?) and nothing Obama has in mind gets my approval. He's nothing more than a grandstander.

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Want government run healthcare? Join the military.

That's exactly the point. Its impossible for him to handle any situation appropriately, because rightwingers will always find a problem with it. By definition: "If Obama does it, its wrong." Holy crap I think I'll copyright that as a book title.

We don't hate obama. As a matter of fact we don't hate anyone but Major Hassan today.
As far as "nothing he does can ever be correct", nothing has been so far.

I rest my case.

Noted that you would have had him let those hostages in the Indian Ocean die at the hands of the pirates.

So tell us what you liked about GWB........

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Want government run healthcare? Join the military.

Not true at all. I'm probably what you'd call a rightwinger, and I actually like Obama. I disagree with the vast majority of his policies and I'm not afraid to say it, but as a person he seems like a decent guy and as a president he has my full support.

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb discussing what's for dinner.
Liberty is a well armed lamb willing to contest the majority decision!" ~ Benjamin Franklin
"Diplomacy is the art of saying Nice Doggie! while you're looking for a rock. ~ Wynn Catlin
"There are no innocent civilians." - Gerneral Curtis Lemay. A.K.A Bombs away Lemay