Clinton’s famous speech after Oklahoma City bombing:
In other news, it was announced that President Obama will of course avoid talking about anything controversial at today’s memorial service:
President Obama will focus his speech at a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday evening on the victims of the attack and on the idea of service to the country, avoiding any overt commentary on the debate over violence and the nation’s political culture.
Instead, Mr. Obama, who was still working with his speechwriters on his remarks on Tuesday, will call for unity among Americans, while trying to honor the victims, including their service to government, as an example to all Americans. He will share the anecdotes about the victims that he has learned during private phone calls to the families, aides said.
By staying above the partisan fray, Mr. Obama is adopting a model that is very close to what President Bill Clinton did 16 years ago, when Mr. Clinton was faced with responding to the Oklahoma City bombing at a similar point in his presidency. On April 23, 1995, four days after Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Mr. Clinton traveled to Oklahoma City, where he told grieving family members at a memorial service that “those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind.”
It was a widely praised address that helped reinvigorate his presidency just months after a midterm drubbing. Against the backdrop of a partisan debate over the role and size of government, Mr. Clinton paid tribute to federal workers in a relatively brief speech that did not wade directly into politics.
Really? Does this sound non-political?
To all my fellow Americans beyond this hall, I say, one thing we owe those who have sacrificed is the duty to purge ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to this evil. They are forces that threaten our common peace, our freedom, our way of life. Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind. Justice will prevail.
Let us let our own children know that we will stand against the forces of fear. When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life. As St. Paul admonished us, Let us “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
I dunno, I don’t think there’s much doubt who this was meant for.
