Obama Now Speaking About Foley Murder

Livestream.

So far he's said that Foley was killed in an "act of violence." Describing IS, he said they've been on a rampage, and have slaughtered people, and tortured them, and committed "acts of violence."

Oh, he finally said "terrorized," then called them "terrorists."

He's trying to sound tough, so I can't fault his intent, but I really think this speech is once again a bit of a rehash, without effective rhetoric. Calling their ideology "bankrupt" seems to me to be pretty weak sauce. He'd say that about the GOP, too.

Meanwhile, James Foley's parents were speaking just before Obama did (tie-less, from around Martha's Vinyard, though in a place called Edgarton, MA -- Andy tells me now that this is actually on Martha's Vinyard).

I was surprised they could even speak coherently. Maybe they've been preparing for this day for a long time.

That chick from The Five (Andrea Tarantos or something) gets part of it: "Where's the fire in the belly?"

She's right, but I don't expect fire in the belly from Obama.

If he can't must up fire in the belly, how about what he's supposedly good at, rhetoric?

The stuff he offered was stale and obvious. It wasn't objectionable. It wasn't wrong. But there didn't seem to be any effort whatsoever to bring a writerly novelty to the words, so that the idea would seem fresh and therefore compelling to the listener.

Based on the slapdash nature of the statement, I'd say that Obama does not think that this is A Moment, as in, A Moment Which He Must Rise To. He seems to just think it's another day, and so another anodyne statement will suffice.

posted by Ace at 12:47 PM

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