Obama's Tucson address reinvigorates him

By Neeraj Salhotra     1/27/11 6:00pm

I was worried; I mean, I really was. I had begun to have my doubts about President Obama. Don't get me wrong: I was and still am a huge supporter of the president, but I wondered whether he still had it - that campaign magic, that ability to inspire, that capacity to engender hope. I feared he may have lost his mojo. I wondered if he could even get legislative victories. Then, he struck a compromise on the Bush tax cuts, and I thought it was over. I feared he had caved under the pressure.

But then Obama, as if channeling his inner Kobe Bryant, stepped up in the clutch: He got a health bill for the 9/11 first responders, helped ratify the new START treaty and signed the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. With this string of accomplishments, I thought that maybe, just maybe, he was back.

Then, Jan. 8, the country witnessed the terrible tragedy in Tucson, Ariz. I need not go into the details, since we all know the facts, but, needless to say, there was an attack on what Obama aptly termed "a quintessentially American scene:" constituents meeting their congresswoman. We as a nation grieved with the families of the deceased: Judge John Roll, Dorothy Morris, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, Gabe Zimmerman and Christina Taylor Green. However, on Jan. 12, Obama addressed a nation yearning for closure. It was in this speech that Obama regained that magic, that brilliance, that greatness that so many of us voted for.

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The speech certainly provided closure; Obama profiled the six fallen Americans. He eloquently described their amazing lives - lives that were cut all too short by the heinous killing. Obama then praised the heroes: ordinary men and women who, in the face of crisis, did extraordinary things - Daniel Hernandez, who applied first aid to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords until the paramedics arrived; Patricia Maisch, who wrestled ammunition away from the killer; the men who tackled the shooter and the doctors, nurses and emergency workers who healed the wounded. The passion and confidence Obama displayed was masterful, and he provided closure to the tragedy. Even if the speech had ended there, it would have been amazing.

But, Obama went further: He motivated the nation to higher goals; he inspired hope in the millions watching. He called on the country to "do better." He implored us "to strive for a perfect union." He reminded us that the forces of unity are greater than those of division. And, in a line that will undoubtedly be repeated by future generations, he urged us to "recognize our own mortality" and to remember "that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others." In this line, he called us to service, asked us to realize our best selves and appealed for us to, as former Senator Robert Kennedy once said, "make gentle the life of this world." It was here that I realized the brilliant oratory, for which I and many others had so ardently yearned, was back.

However, the president did not stop there. He then spoke to the nation as a parent. He honored Green, a cute, curious, carefree 9-year-old girl who had been elected to her school's student council and just wanted to meet her congresswoman. He pled with the nation "to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it."

And Obama tapped into that uniquely American notion: future preference, the desire to make the world better for posterity. "We should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations." It was this line that will motivate every American, Democrat or Republican, white or black, Asian or Hispanic; it is this amazingly simple yet incredibly powerful ideal which can help Americans "forge a country that is forever worthy of [Christina's] gentle, happy spirit."

Obama may have had a rough patch in 2010; however, his accomplishments during the lame-duck session and, more importantly, his speech after the Tucson tragedy prove he is back. His speech was a tour de force; the rhetoric, the oratory, and the hope; it was all there. President Obama was amazingly brilliant during the speech; he found a country mournful and left it hopeful. I would even suggest this speech was the finest moment of this presidency. In short, it was greatness personified.

Neeraj Salhotra is a Sid Richardson College sophomore.

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