One of the great themes in the fabric of American life is that men and women of diverse political beliefs have lived in relative harmony over the years as the nation has grown and matured. Occasionally, that accord has been shattered by a conflict, an irrational act or a horrific event. At those times, Americans have regularly turned to their president for inspiration, for guidance, for reassurance and for a sense of renewal. Barack Obama provided all that and more Wednesday evening at a memorial service for the victims of an unprovoked shooting in Arizona last Saturday that left six dead and more than a dozen wounded.
Among the grievously wounded was U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who had come to a strip mall to meet with constituents at a “Congress on Your Corner” event. It was as the president said, “a quintessentially American scene” to fulfill “a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering questions to their constituents … just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.”
Obama did not provide a chronology of Saturday’s horror. There was no need to do so; details, unfortunately, already are too well known. Instead, and properly so, the president respectfully honored the victims of the gunman, citing each by name and describing how each represented “what is best in us, what is best in America.” It was a somber yet uplifting recitation that forcefully reminded those assembled and all those who watched or listened from afar of the value of individual life and the role every American plays in perpetuating the nation’s ideals.
“Our hearts,” he said, “are broken by their sudden passing.” He reminded Americans, though, that life must go on. “Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting,” including the congresswoman many of them traveled to the mall to see last Saturday. And he electrified the crowd and prompted thunderous waves of applause when he reveled that “Gabby opened her eyes for the first time” not long after he and his wife left her bedside.
The president’s remembrance of those who died and his reminder that the wounded still must heal were followed by a powerful and inspirational appeal that transcends the bitter partisan politics that have gripped the nation recently and that many blame for creating an atmosphere that was conducive to or even responsible for the gunman’s spree. The president looked beyond that discussion. He took a higher and more important road.