An American Tragedy - Tucson, AZ

A few days ago we wondered if we Americans were a nation that had forgotten how to mourn.  Today we ask another question, have we become so casual, callow, and aloof that we have forgotten the words, "protocol" and "etiquette?"  Those thoughts came to mind this evening as I watched the nationally televised service at Mckale Center Arena, at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

It was difficult to categorize the service, it was a multi purpose event to bring healing to the Tucson Community that had been so traumatized by the multiple murders and shooting that took place on Saturday, January 9, 2010.  U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded when a madman appeared out of nowhere and began shooting into the crowd.  By the end of the day it was obvious that Representative Giffords had been his intended target. 

All week long, the news from Tucson have dominated the television coverage.  Journalists and the public alike eagerly awaited updates from the hospital, each time hoping for good news on Rep. Gifford's progress, as well as the progress of others who had been shot and were in the hospital receiving treatment for their wounds.  Those who were mortally wounded were soon identified, as well as those whose heroism had saved lives and prevented the shooter from emptying another cartridge of bullets on the unsuspecting crowd.

The shooter was apprehended, incarcerated, indicted and all who read or watched the news were often astonished to learn that someone with such a sick mind had lived in their midst.  As time progressed it was fairly conclusive that the 22 year old gunman was very clinically, mentally disturbed, perhaps, some speculated maybe a homicidal schizophrenic. 

Once the doctors had ascertained that Gabby Giffords was still critical, but stabilized and her chances of survival assured, the service which took place on Wednesday evening was planned.  After holding a moment of silence on the steps of the capitol with all the Congress and staffers assembled, President and Mrs. Obama prepared to fly to Arizona on Wednesday.  As we watched them leave the White House their mood appeared to be grave, unsmiling as befitted their destination. They were going to honor the dead, and pray for healing for the wounded.

After visiting at the hospital, the Obamas entered the Arena and took their places on the front row.  The crowd of some 14,000 inside and nearly 12,000 outdoors greeted them as one would a rock star.  The cheers, applause, whoops and whistles, sounded bizarre in a setting of grief. For those who'd lost loved ones it must have been hurtful, and the Obamas appeared startled.  Sitting alone in my den, I said to myself, "This can't be happening."

There is a certain protocol that is observed at times like this.  The solemnity of the occasion dictates it.  Because there were no clergy men who appeared to have roles in the service, I wondered just exactly what direction the program would take.  After the Obama's sat the orchestra played "Fanfare for the Common Man", a haunting melody, punctuated by drum beats. 

UA President Robert Shelton led the ceremony, announcing each guest and performer.  After the National Anthem was sung, Pres. Shelton introduced, UA Professor Carlos Gonzalez who gave a long and somewhat peculiar Native American Blessing.   UA  student body president Emily Fritze and Daniel Hernandez, Jr. were introduced next.  

 Hernandez a student at UA was working as an intern for Congresswoman Giffords, and is being hailed as a hero for his quick actions which probably saved Giffords' life as well as some others.  When he was introduced the crowd of mostly students went wild with cheers and what seemed like endless applause and whistles.  To his credit, Mr. Hernandez appeared almost embarrassed by the adulation, and speaking eloquently and extemporaneously, he declined the title of "hero" giving credit instead to the first responders and medical staff who'd tended to the wounded.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed and introduced the visiting dignitaries.  After speaking a few encouraging words, Gov. Brewer introduced HSA Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is also the former governor of Arizona, who read from the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament.  Attorney General Eric Holder followed with  a reading from the New Testament.

President Shelton then introduced President Obama and once again the students screams and cheers were overwhelming.  After a standing ovation, President Obama began his speech. "I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow," he said,  "There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts." 

Following the Scripture readings, his opening words appeared to set the tone for the somber and sorrowful occasion.  But it was not to be.  The crowd of students interrupted all through the speech with applause, whistles, shouts, and cheers.  He wound up speaking some 34 minutes.  The service ended with the choir singing a Shaker Hymn, and President Shelton reading a poem.

I sat in my den stunned.  I read somewhere that the students cheers had lightened the somber mood.  As the mother of a former cheerleader, I felt I'd just witnessed a pep rally before a big game.  Some one else commented that the McKeal Center is a sports arena that is used to hearing "cheers not tears."  Fine, if you'd gone to a sporting event!  But this was not a football game, or The Final Four.  This was a solemn occasion.  In the audience sat the families of those who had died, their grief still raw, and the families of those who are still hospitalized, including Gabby Giffords' whose recovery is still questionable. 

What was to be a defining moment in Obama's presidency, will not be remembered as that.  Granted, I'm not an Obama fan, but all week I've heard comparisons to the speech that Ronald Reagan gave after the space shuttle disaster, and the speech Bill Clinton gave after the Oklahoma City bombing, or George Bush's address at the National Cathedral in Washington after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.  All tragic moments in American history, and all received by grieving Americans with the seriousness and respect which the occasion demanded. Their speeches, all delivered and received in manner befitting the somberness of the event.

To his credit, Mr. Obama gave a very eloquent speech, and seemed to adapt well to the crowd's mood which he obviously had not expected. His intent was to recognize those who had so tragically died,  to offer comfort to the wounded, and to offer words that would heal the wounds that the Tucson community has felt since being thrown in the limelight.  It was in fact, one of his better speeches, and I'm sure the text of it can be found on the Internet for anyone to read.  I'm not going to quote it or reprint it here.  But the shouts, the cheers, the applause, interrupted it's fluidity, and in part robbed it of the impact it could have had.

There were a few times when the cheers were welcome.  When Obama announced that Gabby Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time, and when Daniel Hernandez was hailed as a hero.  But the rest of the time it was completely out of place, regardless of the venue where it was held.  They made me feel uncomfortable, and I wonder how many of those there who were still grieving could tolerate the cheer.

What it did demonstrate is that many of America's young adults  can't seem to be serious for one solemn event.  Do they even know the protocol one follows when attending a memorial such as this? Do they know the proper etiquette one uses to express condolence and sympathy to the grieving families? Do they know how to be serious and do they know how to mourn?

These young college students are the future leaders of this country.  They will soon be going out into the workforce to assume responsible jobs.  The "have fun, party mentality" needs to be tempered with moments of seriousness and decorum.  I was shocked and extremely disappointed by their behavior. Regardless of their reasons for being there, this was not a campaign function.  They were there to honor their fellow citizens and they didn't do it properly.

Another unusual practice in today's ceremony was the giving away of
T-shirts emblazoned with "Together We Thrive, Tucson and America," the theme of the evening.  Who has ever heard of giving away souvenirs at an event to memorialize the victims of a sordid tragedy?

In our church, when someone dies we don't call it a funeral.  We refer to it as "A Celebration of Life." With God's will, the people of Tucson will have times when they can have a celebration of life for the living, for those who survived the madness of last Saturday. Then it will be the proper time to cheer.  Hopefully in spite of these odd irregularities, we will, as the president challenged, "strive to be better, be better in our private lives, to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents."

Who knows?  Maybe because of this American tragedy, we might even learn to be better political adversaries!

SUNDAY REFLECTIONS

As the newly elected Senators and Representatives prepare to be seated and sworn in, everyone is speculating on what the mixture of a GOP dominated House, a Democrat Senate and President. will do for the country.  How will it affect the economic crisis?  For weeks now commentators and pundits have been making predictions.  The GOP has announced that the first order of business will be to repeal Obamacare.  Some liberals take offense to the term Obamacare and try to push through the more palatable "health care reform" terminology.  Conservatives warn the Congress not to "roll over" for Obama.  Democrats admonish that Obama won't go begging to the GOP.  In the meantime the president enjoys his  $1.5 million Hawaiian Christmas while signing bill and making objectionable appointments without consulting the Senate as is his wont. 

Others such as Rep. Issa indicate that they are going after the corruption in the Obama Administration.  The new Speaker of the House to be, John Boehmer plans an Obamacare repeal vote before the State of the Union address.  All of us know that the GOP House must still contend with a Democrat held Senate and Obama's veto power.  It's going to be an interesting beginning to the new year.

As we scoured the news reports for facts, and researched for information to write our blog, we did so with the idea of what advice we'd give the GOP.  Sister Two has a new Republican Senator in Mark Kirk.  Sister One unfortunately lives in a Democratic stronghold, but within the Corpus Christi metropolitan area, and they made history on November 2, and defeated Representative Solomon Ortiz and replaced him with Republican Blake Farenholdt.  We are anxious to see what the GOP will do.  Can they succeed?

Armed with several ideas, and even more false starts,  we came across Sunday Reflections in the Washington Examiner, and by golly, here was Professor Reynolds, eloquently expressing what we would have said, except he said it much better.  So with gratitude to him and the Washington Examiner, we bring you an article  that we hope all the GOP in Congress will read.   
Sunday Reflections
Modest proposals to help the new Congress survive and America to thrive


By: Glenn Harlan Reynolds
OpEd Contributor
Washington Examiner


With the new Congress being sworn in this week, everyone is full of advice. 


Well, I'm no exception.


The first advice comes from Han Solo in the debut "Star Wars" film: "Don't get cocky." Republicans won big in the last election, but, if they think that constitutes an excuse to slip back into their old ways, circa 2004 to 2006, then they are doomed -- not just as individual politicians, but quite possibly as a party. The public's patience is quite limited, and is likely to stay so for the foreseeable future.


Second, remember that fortune favors the bold. It's true that ordinarily in politics, most progress occurs at the margins. But it's also true that these are not ordinary times. Big money-saving and government-shrinking proposals in the House, even if they're shot down by the Democrat-controlled Senate, will nonetheless establish a tone.

 They're trying to hide it, but the Inside-the-Beltway permanent-government political class is currently scared. Keep them that way, while showing the public at large that you're serious.


Third, look beyond Congress. There's a simmering mood in favor of constitutional reform across the country. Proposals such as Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett's "Repeal Amendment" -- in which overweening federal laws can be repealed by a supermajority of state legislatures -- are already floating around and generating sufficient support to require pushback from the New York Times.


Nineties-era ideas like the Balanced Budget Amendment and federal term limits for Congress are also popular again. And there's even interest in calling a federal Constitutional Convention. No doubt other ideas will appear. Give them a fair hearing in Congress. Not only is this worth doing on its own, but it will help keep the Washington-insider crowd off-balance.


Fourth, ignore the press. The establishment media still have their power, but they've never been weaker, and they're perceived by an ever-greater percentage of Americans as simply an arm of the political-class Democratic Party. If you pay attention, they have power over you. If you do what you think is right, they don't.


Fifth, go after the infrastructure of the government-backed Left. Back in 2002, I wrote that Republicans should be repealing the awful Digital Millennium Copyright Act: By doing so, they'd not only build up goodwill among college-age downloaders and libertarian tech-types, but they'd also harm the entertainment-industrial complex that is a huge source of money and media power for Democrats.


Seldom are politicians presented with the opportunity to do something simultaneously so inherently right, politically popular and strategically advantageous. Naturally, the congressional Republicans of that era blew it.


They just couldn't bring themselves to go after Big Business, even if it was hostile Big Business. That opportunity is still there. And don't pass up similar opportunities, either. There are a lot of them out there.


Sixth -- and this may be the hardest of all -- lead by example. Democrats have been hurt by, for instance, campaigning against Americans' big carbon footprints while living in enormous mansions and flying in private jets. Don't follow in their footsteps.


Saying no to the perks of office is hard, but Americans, who might tolerate hypocrisy when things are going well, are pretty sick of it now. Act like public servants, not members of an entitled aristocracy, no matter how great the temptations are to act otherwise. And they are great indeed.


Finally, and most importantly, don't forget that these are serious times. In the 1990s, America was able to fool itself into believing that we had reached the end of history, that the tough decisions were mostly behind us, and that progress and prosperity were mostly inevitable.


We know better now. The country is on the verge of bankruptcy, the federal government is at a low point in terms of popular legitimacy, and not just Congress, but the entire political class, is on probation.


"Don't blow it" is fairly unspecific advice, but it's important here. Don't be distracted by the many, many things that seem important in Washington but that don't really matter.


This last advice is probably the most important. We live in perilous times, and they demand a self-discipline and seriousness of purpose that has been missing from those who have governed us in recent years.


Rise to the occasion on the big things, and the little ones will take care of themselves. Drop the ball on the big things, and it won't matter how tactically clever your political position is.


So, yeah, don't blow it.

Examiner Sunday Reflections contributor Glenn Harlan Reynolds is founder and editor of Instapundit.com, and a University of Tennessee law professor.