AP Rejoices: 'Obama pressed into role as national healer'

On Saturday opponents of ObamaCare were referred to as teabagging extremists by the national healer.

“Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”

Today the national healer will bring us all together.

Presidents get elected to run the nation. Some days that means knowing how to heal it.

For the first time since winning the White House, President Barack Obama faces such a moment Tuesday at Fort Hood. After a shooting that left 13 people dead and 29 wounded on the bustling Texas Army post, it is Obama's job to offer some comfort, if not answers.

Maybe I'm misconstruing this sappy, syrupy nonsense, but I'd much prefer there be no need for healing. Of course, had the folks in charge done their jobs, the Fort Hood massacre never would have occurred.

It is his time to take on the healer-in-chief role that can help shape a presidency at a time of national tragedy.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, governed during the worst terrorist attack on American soil, the most crippling natural disaster in U.S. history, a space shuttle explosion, a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, a tornado that wiped away a Kansas town, a bridge collapse in Minnesota, Midwestern flooding and California wildfires. Each response affected his standing, for better or worse, in a country that expects its president to be empathetic and clearly in charge.

Funny, but after virtually all the above some in the media and most of the angry left blamed Bush, be it for 9/11, Katrina, whatever. It didn't matter. There was a calamity, it was time to score political points. I certainly don't recall any chatter about him being a national healer.

History is full of other examples. Bill Clinton helped rebuild his troubled presidency with the way he reacted to the Oklahoma City bombings.

Yes, Clinton's first reaction was to blame Rush Limbaugh. National healing and all that.

In this case, Obama has sought his own balance.

He has promised a full investigation of the Fort Hood shootings but has said little about it as police search for a motive. He has praised religious diversity in the military, trying to offer calm as questions loom about whether the alleged shooter had ties to extremist Islamic ideology. And he has delayed a trip to Asia to attend the memorial service.

Uh, there aren't any questions this maniac had ties to extremist Islamic ideology. We knew all about it but chose to live in deep denial.

But enough about the dead, the wounded, the grieving. We have to make this all about Obama. After all, he's making the ultimate sacrifice here: He's delaying a trip to Asia.

What more can one man do?

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