Memorials, Civility and Don't Illinois Me Bro!

Last night I settled in by a roaring fire and a kitty purring on my lap and watched what I thought would be a solemn, moving memorial service for those killed in Tucson. What I saw looked more like a pep rally or at times a campaign rally. The President of the University of Arizona acted more like an MC than someone leading people in remembering the dead. The way he introduced each speaker was more like The Price is Right and the audience, many college students, whooped and hollered. When the president of the school introduced The President of the United States, it sounded like a campaign speech during the Iowa primaries. To blather on about how wonderful Obama is, was completely inappropriate given the circumstances. Janet Napolitano comes up and says "Thank you Tucson, thank you Arizona" as the crowd cheered her on like a rock star. The only person who struck the right tone was the current Governor, Jan Brewer. She spoke movingly and you could see her heart was heavy. Obama's speech itself was good and he said moving, lovely things about those who were killed. He could have made it clear when he got up that all the cheering, etc was inappropriate. He didn't know that was going to happen but he could have stopped it. The Native American "blessing" at the beginning made no sense and the guy spoke ad nauseum about himself. There were flyers, t-shirts, etc. What kind of memorial was that?

Obama Spoke of civility then said that incivility had nothing to do with what happened. So why are we still talking about this? If the suspect was not motivated by rhetoric from the right or the left, then why do we need to have a discussion or keep emphasizing the need to change the tone? Well, we don't, not in connection with this horrible tragedy. I think, at some point down the road, we should look at what is being said on both sides. Obama was right, it should live up to what a young girl, like Christina Green, dreams it can be.

We also accomplish nothing with heated rhetoric that deviates from the facts. Engaging in robust debate can lead to solving problems but I think we are past debate and need to acknowledge hard choices must be made. Debate is essential but unless it leads to action, we are still in the same place. We have states that are facing billion dollar deficits and a national debt topping $14 trillion. We see two answers. Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell,Govs of New Jersey and Virginia respectively, have cut taxes and spending, and Virginia is seeing pretty amazing job growth. Illinois just passed a 66% income tax increase and an increase in the corporate tax. People will be leaving Illinois in droves if they can. I don't think there is any doubt where these states will be in a year based on the decision their governors made.