Just Like Anyone Else's Kids.

[sheshe2]

Sandy Hook

Valerie JarrettSenior advisor to the president and director of the office of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, 2009-2017

I was in the Oval Office when the president found out that 20 children and six adults had died. And I remember asking, Could you repeat the number? Because I couldn't absorb 20 children. Then I found out they were 6 and 7 years of age. It was almost as if I couldn't take it in.



Valerie Jarrett

Just two days later, the president went to Newtown. It was a rainy day so he couldn’t take a helicopter. We had to drive for an hour and 10 minutes. I remember that like it was yesterday. In the car, he looked at his remarks and he turned them over and he said, “That’s not what I want to say,” and he pulled out a yellow pad of paper and he started to write.

Barack ObamaPresident of the United States, 2009-2017

I knew one thing I needed to do was to name the children, to acknowledge them and make sure that people understood that this wasn’t an abstraction, that these were [kids] just like Malia or Sasha or anybody else’s kids that would hug you and be tucked in at night and read stories to. The notion that we as a society couldn’t protect them, not from a natural disaster but from something like this…

Joshua DuBois

I remember the sheer number of people affected. You had all of those students and teachers who were lost, but each one of them had multiple family members who were directly impacted. Three, four, five, some of them had 10 or 15 people there...And every single one, the president greeted. He would bring them in for a big hug. He’d put his hands on their shoulder and look 'em in their eyes. Some of the younger siblings who were just too young to understand what was going on, he’d try to get them to laugh a little bit or hand them a box of White House M&Ms from his pocket. [The president] just gave whatever he could in that time.



My President





http://www.history.com/the-obama-years/newtown.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. He is a normal, healthy human being. Trump is a psychopath and sociopath.

[sheshe2]

2. Yes.

Obama is a normal, healthy human being. He has a heart that shows on his face and a soul that is beautiful and endless.

[smirkymonkey]

34. +1000

I am in tears over the fact that we had one of the best men on the planet as our leader and now we have the absolute worst. He is an extraordinary human being and I would give anything to have him back.

[sheshe2]

38. I am with you there, smirkymonkey.

[Guilded Lilly]

3. Wow. As soul battering as this is, we cannot forget this...

How Republicans in Congress did NOTHING then, either. And nothing about every single act of domestic mass murder that has happened since.

Our Obama is not in power, and the memories of his amazing character make the wretch in the White House seem all the worse (though he has no problem living up to his vileness all on his own).

The Cretin is a culmination of the Republican anti-humanity from that time and multiplied ten times today.
But we have to try and focus on the change we will create when we get the skank and his blood money Party out of office.

This has been so unbearably tough. I often can’t stop the numbed disbelief from literally paralyzing my brain momentarily.
But by every and anything anyone holds dear, we can’t forget the pain, we have to use it to stay motivated to rip him out of a longer history than he already has fouled.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. well said, and thank you

[sheshe2]

8. I love this.

"Our Obama"

I am going to cry again. Our Obama is a wonderful man.

[Marie Marie]

5. Decency and empathy.

Hey Republicans, I know that these words and their meaning are foreign to you so maybe you could look them up.

[rainin]

6. My sons had his example during their formative years.

They understand how lucky they were. We may never completely undo the damage of this monster.

[George II]

7. Obama traveled here to Connecticut to meet with the families of the victims, hug them....

....and spend some time with other children who escaped the carnage. Then sat alone in a classroom reflecting, wiping a tear from his eye. That was a horrible week, but he helped us get through it.

Our current Pretender went to Florida with PutaUS for a grinning "thumbs up" photo op, then went to a night club last night.

Taking bets on him playing golf tomorrow, odds are 1-100 that he does.

[sheshe2]

11. I tried to find an old pic of mine.

Obama striding across the lawn in the pouring rain coming home from Sandy Hook. Tall, long strides the grief on face apparent. The weight of despair on his face. The weight of each child on his shoulders.

[smirkymonkey]

35. God, that just enrages me!

Everything is just a fucking photo-op for him. He cares about nobody but himself. I hate him with a white-hot passion.

[Cha]

9. Thank you, she, for this Remberance

of the way a President with a beautiful heart reacts to such horrible tragedy.

President Obama

[sheshe2]

12. He hugged them all Cha.

Every family, all the loved ones, all the children. Everyone.

He talked to them and cried with them.

Thanks for that pic.

[Cha]

15. I know..

President Obama gave them comfort they will never forget.

[mcar]

10. Can we have a real president back?

Please?

[sheshe2]

13. Yes please.

Please yes.

[treestar]

61. +1

A real human being.

[Cataract]

14. Democrats who failed the children Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Even after Harry Reid had withdrawn the Assault Rifle ban from the legislation, these four Democrats failed the students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas:

Heidi Heitkamp
Mark Pryor
Mark Begich
Max Baucus

Senator Heitkamp is all that remains from this inglorious group. Perhaps she needs a primary challenger from a pro life Democrat. Remember, anti guns is a pro life position.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/number-senators-voted-against-background-checks-proposal/

[sheshe2]

18. Your article is from 2013

Pro Life challenger? Lol~

[Cataract]

23. This is how Democrats can co-opt the pro-life mantel.

Universal Healthcare is a pro life position.
Diplomacy is a pro life position.
Renewable Energy is a pro-life position.
Gun safety is a pro-life position.


Perhaps we should stop ceding the “high” ground and take it as our own. Surely you would agree that Democratic principles are far more pro-life than any policies today’s Republicans proffer.

[sheshe2]

27. Does

Universal Healthcare is a pro life position.

Does this include planned parenthood? The right for a woman to chose? Her body her right?


Diplomacy is a pro life position.

Sorry not sure what this even means,

Renewable Energy is a pro-life position.

I am for solar! Let's get the ass in the WH out of there so we can get some. I call that pro choice....we chose solar to save the planet.


Gun safety is a pro-life position.


Hmm. Gun safety..Save the Gun? Not sure where you are going here, save the gun or perhaps we should regulate them and save lives.

Democrats are for pro choice. Our lives our choice.

[Cataract]

29. Of course planned parenthood is a pro life position.

Anti-war can be substituted for diplomacy

Gun Safety better phrasing than Gun Control.

I’m talking about co-opting the pro-life moniker to promote the entire safety net of policies. Of course a majority of Democrats are pro-choice. There is nothing wrong with retaining the phrase Pro Choice. I am talking about forcing the Republicans to invent another word for their pro birth position, just as the Republicans forced Democrats to drop the word liberal from their vocabulary and replace it with progressive.

[uppityperson]

31. Thank you for explaining what you meant. Indeed "pro-life" is too often used as its exact opposite

Too many who call themselves "pro-life" are actually pro war, pro death penalty, pro guns, none of which are for life.

Unfortunately du gets influxes of trolls here to disrupt, which combined with unclarity of internet communication, can lead to some nasty non-welcomes.

Thank you for clarifying what you meant.

[SidDithers]

19. Wow. Seriously?...

Sid

[Cataract]

25. Kudos for a job quickly done.

I hope my real name in my profile and in my email address didn’t give me away.

I’ve sat on the sidelines for over a year watching traditional Democrats lose a tremendously valuable SCOTUS seat as well as a presidency to a degenerate buffoon. I thought I’d re-enter the discussion and fight for my country and my planet. If I’m the wrong kind of Democrat for Democratic Underground, perhaps you should be more specific in the kind of echo chamber you wish to construct.

I think you’ll find that my only infractions were being too liberal, or perhaps believing that policy over party is the path best taken.

- Ron Genise

[Iggo]

36. "....and magnificently we will flow..."

Just had to trip to a beautiful song.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[SidDithers]

63. ...

Sid

[George II]

20. You joined DU for that? "anti guns is a pro life position"? Got lost going to Free Republic?

Enjoy your stay, and don't let the door...................

[sheshe2]

21. Thanks.

[Cataract]

24. No. I joined Democratic Underground to voice my opinion.

Are all posters here that welcoming, or just you?

Perhaps you haven’t noticed over the years how Democrats have had to flee their liberal roots from the 1930s to the 1980s when they controlled the House unabated. Republicans learned to use language to hoodwink lower information voters into thinking that liberalism was communism and that the Second Amendment was about freedom and not slavery. Somehow protest was unpatriotic and worshipping the military was patriotism. Our country was born in protest and the founding fathers rejected standing armies in time of peace.

Currently the Republicans own the phrase pro-life when every policy they put forth supports poverty, illiteracy, death and destruction.

I guess I joined to promote taking back not only the mantel of pro-life, but also the mantel of Christianity for actual Christians and patriotism for actual patriots.

I look forward to the challenge and to the discussions. But you may be right. The first two comments on my posting were disrespectful and uninviting.

But thank you for at least taking the time to wish me an enjoyable stay.

[uppityperson]

22. What do you mean "anti guns is a pro life position"? Pro-life is anti-choice

not anti-gay. Please explain.

[SunSeeker]

28. As that 2013 article notes, that bill lost by 6 votes; those 4 voting yes would not have saved it

No doubt Harry Reid knew that the vote would be hopeless and let these 4 red state Dems vote No to help them hold their seats.

Of all the people to condemn over the Florida high school mass shooting, these 4 aren't among them.

Your post just smacks of opportunistic Dem bashing.

[George II]

37. You chose a vote from back in 2013 to criticize Democrats, not just criticize but.....

.....use this horrible incident to point to those four Democrats as "failing" the students in Florida.

And now you're doubling down on that and expanding it in this post, and also hinting that Democrats haven't tried to do better.

[George II]

41. It was the fourth.

[SunSeeker]

46. There were 24 working days of a filibuster proof Dem majority in Obama's first term.

And they were not even consecutive. We used those precious few days to pass the ACA, which saved 45,000 lives each year.

Stop your Dem bashing.

Oh, and FUCK JILL STEIN.

[SunSeeker]

44. Dems did not "fall short." The cowardly GOP did, blocking every gun control measure.

We could not overcome the Republican filibuster. Just what do you think Dems could have done in light of the filibuster?

Literally everything in your post is incorrect.

[George II]

51. The assault rifle ban expired in 2004. There were three earlier mass shootings....

....in 2009 (I don't rate them by gruesomeness)

You don't "effect change" by pointing fingers. As the saying goes, "you catch more flied with honey than you do with vinegar".

But if you do insist on pointing fingers, why not do so at the legislators that have been blocking gun control legislation for decades, the republicans?

[SunSeeker]

42. That is NOT why. Dems did not block the AWB. It was the REPUBLICAN filibuster that blocked it.

The argument that Republicans blocked gun control measures of every sort proposed by the Dems can be made "cleanly." Because Republicans fucking did. That is the truth.

The Dems did not "fall short." The cowardly Republicans did.

Stop bashing Dems. You are fooling no one here.

[SunSeeker]

53. No, that is NOT "all" you are doing. You blamed those 4 Dems for the failure of gun control.

That is factually wrong. That is Dem bashing, which is counterproductive to progressive change.


P.S. FUCK JILL STEIN

[SunSeeker]

52. No, you are Dem bashing by misstating the facts.

THOSE 4 VOTED NO BECAUSE THE VOTE WAS HOPELESS IN LIGHT OF THE FILIBUSTER AND THEY WANTED TO PRESERVE THEIR RED STATE SEATS. SO THEY COULD VOTE ANOTHER DAY. WHICH IS WHY REID VOTED NO.

Sheesh.

I am fine with you thoughtfully disagreeing on strategy, but that is not what you are doing. You are misstating the facts to bash Dems. The only "change" you will accomplish with that is to elect more Republicans.

If you really wanted things to "reflect well on the Party and its ideals," you wouldn't be posting this bullshit.





P.S. FUCK JILL STEIN

[ProudLib72]

16. Remember the flack he caught for saying Trayvon would have been his kid?

Yeah, this is what he meant by that statement. So to hell with those RW assholes who mocked him for showing some empathy.

[kimbutgar]

17. You rarely if ever see twitler with children

Children can spot a bs person immediately. They instinctly know if one is a good person. I have only seen one pictureof twitler with his grandchildren and they are not happy. His granddaughter looked creeped out holding his hand.

And don’t get me started on him not owning any animals.

[dchill]

26. K&R for our last human President.

[pansypoo53219]

30. we have a nazi troll as POTUS.

[George II]

39. Last night I said this in post #7:

"Taking bets on him playing golf tomorrow, odds are 1-100 that he does."

Guess what?

[spanone]

45. i'm sure he wanted to play saturday morning, but saner minds prevailed

[sheshe2]

48. Not surprising to any of us, is it.

[malaise]

54. The COn is about photo Ops

He has not one shred of empathy. The entire visit with medical folks and the one set up 'victim' lasted fifteen minutes. These are sets in his reality TV presidency. It's as fake as most of his bullshit.

[mainstreetonce]

55. There are no pictures

Of Trump with survivors or victims.
He said he saw them in the hospital.

The only picture I could find was with doctors.

[sheshe2]

56. Yes..

With his #$%^&YUI() big fat grin and a huge thumbs up.

Disgusting.

[SunSeeker]

57. And Melania in her Nurse Ratched outfit. nt

[sheshe2]

58. Ugh.

[SunSeeker]

59. You can't make this shit up...

[sheshe2]

60. Jaysus.

Look at all those bright smiling faces and huge thumbs up for the 17 dead victims. #@#$%&*(

[Control-Z]

62. Beautiful post, she.

Thank you!