As Guy mentioned in his post, President Obama explained again yesterday why he decided to watch baseball alongside Raul Castro, do “the wave,” and chat with folks from ESPN. It had to do with not letting the terrorists disrupt our daily lives, while channeling how Boston pressed on following the marathon bombing in 2013, specifically how they taught the country a lesson by grieving, catching those responsible, and then getting on with their day-to-day activities, like shopping. He mentioned this in a joint press conference with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri yesterday; Argentina is part of the president's planned Latin American trip.
One of my proudest moments as president was watching Boston respond after the Boston Marathon attack because they taught America a lesson. They grieved; I was there for the memorial. We apprehended those who had carried this out, but a few days later folks were out shopping.
It’s funny he should mention shopping since he criticized President Bush for encouraging the exact same thing following the 9/11 attacks during his first presidential campaign in 2008.
The clip shows Obama noting how we all felt the loss of that day; how we rallied behind President Bush; pride in how our first responders reacted to the tragedy; and got a renewed sense of patriotism in the aftermath of the loss.
“We were ready to step into the strong current of history and answer a new call for our country, but the call never came. Instead of a call to service, we were asked to shop.”
When there’s no good reason to explain why you decided to do “the wave” with an authoritarian dictator, who had locked up dozens of people prior to your arrival, in the midst of a serious terrorist incident, I guess that chances of you saying something absurd rise dramatically. As a world leader, some circumstances demand that you skip the baseball game and try to address the current situation. Obama didn’t. He’s got full-blown senioritis, and despite what he says about ISIS–the fact he decided to stay at a baseball game while Brussels burned shows he isn’t the least bit interested in doing anything serious. This is something he’s going to pass off to the next president. In this instance, with the shopping references to demonstrate how he’s channeling his inner Boston (and showing he doesn't want the terrorists to win), it’s a weak sauce explanation with a touch of hypocrisy.
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