President Obama gave an eulogy at the Tucson memorial service for the victims of Saturday’s tragic shooting. The incident has been highly politicized because both Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who is fighting for her life after being shot in the head, and Judge John Roll, who was killed, had been the target of death threats because of their stances on immigration and health care reform. Giffords, who has just won a hard fought reelection, commented recently on the dangers of some of the hard edged rhetoric that was coming from her opponents, particularly Sarah Palin, whose website featured a map with cross hairs over the districts of Democrats she was encouraging her supporters to help “take down.”
Obama’s eulogy was typically eloquent, but it was also heartfelt, reflective and stirring. The President encouraged his people to not use the tragedy as a new reason to turn against each other, but rather to be inspired to be better, to listen to each other and to share the kind of discourse that Representative Giffords’ “Congress in Your Corner” program of town hall meetings and open conversations in public venues, the very program she was participating in when the shooting happened, was meant to stimulate. You can see the full text of his speech here, or watch it above.
