Obama's Tucson Speech: He Is No Bill Clinton

Allen, you are wrong about the President's memorial speech. The President's speech was wonderful. It was compassionate, thoughtful and full of hope. I'm a conservative and it brought tears to my eyes. I gained a lot of respect for President Obama tonight. Yes, the crowd was unruly and at times it was more like a "pep rally" than a memorial. I attribute that to immature students who thought the whole thing was more about "them and their school" than a memorial to those murdered and wounded by a terrible act of violence.. Even the FOX News panel appreciated what President Obama had to say. You are just plain wrong this time.

I'm afraid you are mistaken about the musical prologue. The piece was not from 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's American composer Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, written in 1942 to celebrate the ordinary American people who entered World War 2 to secure the world's freedom. It was a good and decent choice. And I think it was a good and decent speech.

Allen, I totally agree with you. The event was poorly planned in regards to setting the tone (not the President's fault). The speakers failed to set the tone as well by not asking the audience to pipe down and show some respect. The President's speech was inadequate for all the points you mentioned. The fact that the families of lost ones were in attendance makes me ill. If it were my daughter who had been lost, I would have literally thrown up and walked out during the President's campaign speech. Heartless speech, heartless audience. I was appalled.

There is no comparison between Bill Clinton's speech in Oklahoma and Obama's speech in Arizona. The setting was completely wrong in Arizona which started things off wrong. They should never have had a memorial at a university. I didn't get the medicine man at all. The President's speech was the best part of the memorial, but it wasn't great. It was too long, and talked too much about the survivors and heroes. This wasn't the time for that. It was a time to grieve those who died. Also, it seemed that President Obama likes attention way too much. He could have stopped the applause and screaming if he wanted to, or at least kept it at more of a minimum. Lastly, the President showed no emotion at all which makes him seem even more like an empty suit.