Newtown: When the pain is too heart-rending to contemplate.
To 'Prove' His
Presidency, Obama Must Go Beyond Assault Weapons Ban (Liberation, France)
"It is past
time for Obama to show he can act. Restoring the ban on the use of
assault rifles would be a first step. But he must go further. He must
initiate a national dialogue with Congress and throughout the country on gun
control. ... Obama must seize this tragic moment and prove his presidency. This
time, speeches will not suffice."
Visibly distraught, President Obama addresses the nation after America's latest gun massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. By asserting that something must be done to stem such attacks, the president has raised expectations that this time, something will be done.
"It isn't possible. These are kids who were killed
in a school. If the president does nothing now, it's crazy. We cannot go on this
way."
Saturday,
this woman came to Saint Rose de Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, to light a
candle in tribute to the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary
School. But between the tears, she couldn't hide her anger.
Today, many Americans share that sentiment. The tragedy at
Newtown will also be a way of judging the political courage of Obama in
confronting the eternal problem of gun control in the United States. "If
he doesn't move there, he's a coward," confided a former police officer in
the small Connecticut town this weekend.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
For many commentators, the fact that children were killed
"changes the game." Even conservative newspapers on Monday remarked, "this
is a crucial moment for the debate." (USA
Today).
After the shooting in Aurora, Colorado, Barack Obama took
more than a week to discuss "the need to do something." Sunday night,
in an auditorium at Newtown High School, the president said he was ready to
"use all his powers" to stop these types of massacres. And without
even once uttering the word "guns."
Yet it is past time for Obama to show he can act. Restoring
the ban on the use of assault rifles would be a first step. But Obama
must go further. He must initiate a national dialogue with Congress and
throughout the country on gun control.
And he must do so despite the power of the NRA - the lobby
for guns. Polls show that even in America, mindsets are changing, especially
among women.
Obama must seize this tragic moment and prove his
presidency. This time, speeches will not suffice.
