As the nation mourns the latest mass shooting in Washington, D. C., America can look back over the presidency of Barack Obama simply by counting the number of times he has had to address the families and friends of shooting victims. ?As one cycles through the list of speeches, you realize that Obama has already given only four State of the Union addresses, yet already given six condolence speeches and counting after the tragic deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of criminals.
Criminals with guns.
Lawrence O’Donnell of The Last Word on MSNBC said?yesterday that “It is now more common for the president to give a speech after a mass murder than it is for the president to give State of the Union addresses. The authors of the Second Amendment never anticipated that.”
Mass murders have killed 75 people in this country since Obama took office, each time spawning a speech with language like, “this has happened too many times in this nation,” as Obama said after Newtown, CT, where 26 people, including many children were brutally murdered in cold blood.
In this particular speech, the Commander in Chief stopped mid-sentence and began to weep. Later, he explained his tears by noting that he had children and thought of them as he spoke about all the other mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends, and others, who lost loved ones and of the lives cut short in that small school room.
Obama gave a speech after Fort Hood, TX, where 13 people were killed and 31 injured. ?He gave a speech after Tuscon, AZ, where 6 people were killed and 13 injured. ?He gave a speech after Aurora, CO, where 12 were killed and 58 injured. ?He spoke to the nation after Oak Creek, WI, where 6 were killed and 4 injured. ?After Newtown, another speech to remember the 26 who were murdered, and finally, after Washington, D. C., where 12 were cut down.
This list doesn’t even include the Boston Marathon bombings, or other acts of mass murder, foiled by law enforcement.
Watch the list of Obama’s speeches below:
How many more of these speeches will President Obama have to give, before we all decide together as a country that one more is simply one too many.
Edited by:?Jeromie Williams?- Photo: Talking Points Memo
