President Obama, continuing his permanent campaign strategy on every issue, took to the road today to head to Minnesota. Why? Because a youth violence initiative – an initiative that does not contain gun control – has decreased violence. That despite the fact that the number of guns discovered at Minneapolis crime scenes was up a full 27.5% last year.
Obviously, Obama will be going nowhere near his hometown of Chicago to campaign, since gun violence remains at an all time high despite heavy gun control.
In Minnesota, Obama did what he always does: he demagogued the issue and implied that his opponents are morally bankrupt. He claimed that his opinion – which is more and more unpopular every day with the American people – is the “common-sense” mainstream position. “We don’t have to agree on everything to agree that it’s time to do something,” said Obama. That’s hardly a prescription on what that “something” is – why not make that “something” better mental health screening or a culture-centric initiative like Minneapolis’ rather than assault weapons bans? – but Obama’s agenda is to make his opponents seem like obstructionists.
“When it comes to protecting our children from gun violence, you have shown that progress is possible,” Obama stated. Obama simply hopes that we will overlook his lack of a coherent, helpful plan and instead see him as a man of action. As he said, “Now is the time for action. We’re not going to wait for the next Newtown, or the next Aurora.”
Of course, he also admitted, “It may not be the perfect solution. We may not save every life.” In other words, nothing he says may work. But he wants effort points. And if the media coverage so far is any indicator, he’ll get them.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.