The Obama administration hasn’t been shy about telling the American people what we need to be talking about amongst ourselves. Who can forget the 2013 call for a dialogue about Obamacare at Thanksgiving dinner? The Obama HHS urged us to put Obamacare front and center again on Independence Day 2015.
And in November 2015, Team Obama wanted us to branch out and talk about “gun control” around the Thanksgiving table.
So it’s not like Obama and his helper squad haven’t been there with the unsolicited advice all along. But for his broadcast on Fathers Day weekend this month — the first weekend after the terror attack in Orlando — Obama himself has stepped to the plate. And he’s telling us not just what to talk about, but what to say.
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In November, Americans could be left to bat around policy ideas with their turkey and dressing. Josh Earnest had this suggestion:
Again, if Congress were actually interested in [homeland security], they’d pass a law that would prevent somebody who’s on the terror watch list from being able to buy a gun. That’s what Congress should do.
And as people are sitting around the Thanksgiving table, talking about these issues, as they should, and as I’m sure they will all across the country, I hope that’s a question that will be raised, and asked by members around the table–that if we’re going to have a serious discussion in this country about national security, let’s talk about some pretty obvious things that Congress can do.
But now, Obama wants parents to preach a very specific gospel to their children. (Transcript edited from CNSNews; emphasis added.)
[T]his past week, I’ve…thought a lot about dads and moms around the country who’ve had to explain to their children what happened in Orlando. Time and again, we’ve observed moments of silence for victims of terror and gun violence. Too often, those moments have been followed by months of silence. By inaction that is simply inexcusable. If we’re going to raise our kids in a safer, more loving world, we need to speak up for it. We need our kids to hear us speak up about the risks guns pose to our communities, and against a status quo that doesn’t make sense. They need to hear us say these things even when those who disagree are loud and are powerful.
Of course, no gun has ever posed a risk without a human doing something with it first. “Guns” pose no risk whatsoever to our communities, any more than lawnmowers, power drills, or dispose-alls do. You’d have to be hysterical and determinedly irrational to tell your children that “guns pose risks to communities.” This last sentence is quite literally true; the calm and rational point to make would be that humans can misuse guns and do damage with them, through mistakes or evil intent, and that’s why it’s important to handle guns respectfully and carefully, and act responsibly at all times when guns are under your supervision. But it’s hysterical and irrational to talk about guns as if they have supernatural powers in themselves to “pose risks to communities.”
So, to be clear, Obama wants you parents out there to instill in your children an irrational idea about guns. Interestingly — for a president whose administration has been attacking law enforcement for many months over its supposedly biased and unfair dealings with the public — Obama also wants parents to tell children that police and first responders are our heroes.
And we can’t forget our responsibility to remind our kids of the role models whose light shines through in times of darkness. The police and first responders, the lifesaving bystanders and blood donors. Those who comfort mourners and visit the wounded. The victims whose last acts on this earth helped others to safety. They’re not just role models for our kids – their actions are examples for all of us.
Amazing, really, that it’s only when a fully-alerted FBI failed to interdict a terrorist before he attacked, and when the terrorist killed 49 people and injured 53 more in a three-hour standoff before the police were able to take him down, that Obama thinks they’re all heroes. Along, of course, with blood donors and kindly bystanders.
The conclusion is inescapable that in Obama’s world, heroism consists in accepting systematic vulnerability for yourself and your children, letting armed predators kill you if you get unlucky, weeping and giving blood, and cleaning the mess up afterward. But under no circumstances can you be a hero if you use force to take the armed predator out and save dozens, or even hundreds of people from death.
Oh, and no: the word “Islamic” didn’t pass Obama’s lips at any point during his weekly address. Not that you needed to ask.
