I agree that often the President has a Spock-like stoicism to his public speaking that doesn't imbue nearly enough humanity. And at other times, he slips in jokes that strike me as completely inappropriate for the somber tone needed for a particular speech. But I still have to disagree with CBN's David Brody who writes (that's Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network, not CNN) that he wishes the President showed more emotion, more joy, last night when he informed the nation that bin Laden was dead.
His speech made no mention of any sort of proud accomplishment and it certainly made no mention of how exciting this moment was for our country. I know President Obama understands that getting Bin Laden doesn’t mean an end to the war on terrorism but how about a smile? How about showing a little joy? How about a word or two saying something about how this is no doubt a happy or joyous occasion for Americans?Gotta disagree. When the Challenger blew up, when the Twin Towers were hit, America needed its President's words of comfort. We didn't need any such thing last night. All we needed to know was that we got the SOB. And all the eloquence in the world wouldn't have made the moment any sweeter.
We got nothing like that at all. Instead, we got Mr. Monotone. Mr. Bars and Tone. Mr. Non-Emotion. President Obama missed an opportunity to connect with Americans last night.
If anything, it would have been somewhat crude for the President of the United States to be all smiley and backslappy about just having killed a man. Even if he's a very very bad man, it still looks weird doing high-fives and, yes, even chanting "USA! USA!" outside the White House. And I don't mean "weird" to the Arab street. I mean weird to the American street too.
3,000 people were killed. Sure, you're glad when they catch the murderer, but there's still some solemnity required on behalf of our fallen.
At least that's my take.
