A bully will take advantage of that approach every time. If you tell a bully it's OK to punch somebody . . . well, you had better be prepared to duck. And innocent people, who aren't aware of the need to duck, are likely to get hurt.
Ever since Obama took office, conservative bullies have come out punching with a litany of outrageous and inflammatory rhetoric. People like Jared Loughner were listening--and noticing that the nasty approach worked.
Obama is not the only one who helped set the stage for tragedy. In the November 2010 midterm elections, voters went to the polls and rewarded conservatives for their corrupt actions and ugly words. They turned the U.S. House of Representatives over to the GOP and cut deeply into the Democrats' advantage in the Senate. In Alabama, Republicans took over the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.
The message from voters to the GOP? "You've committed criminal acts, run our economy off a cliff, damaged our credibility in the international community, coarsened our national discourse--and we think that's great! Keep up the good work!"
No wonder some Republicans thought they could engage in all kinds of incendiary rhetoric and get away with it.
We don't know what thought process, if any, that Jared Loughner employed in the days leading up to the shootings in Tucson. But imagine the possible thinking of an unstable, but semi-rational individual with access to a gun and a score to settle. "Hey, the president said Rove, Cheney, Dubya, and the gang were going to receive a "get out of jail free" card--and their policies led to the deaths of thousands. Heck, I should get a free pass for bumping off a dozen or so folks in Tucson--no problem."
Obama said all the right things at last night's memorial. He's good at that kind of thing. "There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts," Obama said. "But know this: The hopes of a nation are here tonight."
You are right about that, Mr. President. But many in the nation also hope that you will finally grow a spine. Instead of trying to build a trumped-up criminal case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange--who is trying to shine light on wrongdoing--how about going after Karl Rove and others who are behind much of that wrongdoing? Where are your priorities, and how badly are they out of whack?
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