After the obligatory acknowledgment of the atrocity that happened earlier today in Orlando, President Obama assured the nation that the investigation continues and made sure to note that the killer’s motivations haven’t yet been uncovered…only that the murders were carried out by a “hate-filled individual.” Neither the word ‘Muslim’ nor ‘Islam’ ever crossed his lips. He then thanked first responders and acknowledged the difficulty of this for the LGBT community as a whole…that in attacking a minority, the Pulse nightclub massacre was “an attack on all of us.”
Then, of course, he moved on to decry the ease of access by the killer to a “handgun and a powerful assault rifle”, intoning that “we have to decide if this is the kind of country we wan to be” referring to the availability of firearms in America.
It was a remarkably perfunctory performance. More an exercise in checking off all the obligatory boxes than an effort to reassure the nation or pledge action against our enemies. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, with seven months to go, he’s already checked out of the job. Despite the brevity of his remarks, there’s apparently no truth to the rumor he had a tee time to get to.
In short, more mush from the wimp, to coin a phrase.