Obama's Trayvon Martin Statement 'Disgraceful'
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| President Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner |
Newt Gingrich: Obama's Trayvon Martin Statement 'Disgraceful'
Reporting from Washington-
Declaring that “if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon,” President Obama chose a highly personal solution to join the heated national debate more than the death of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
Obama took care to voice no opinion on the conduct of the shooter, George Zimmerman, or any legal aspect in the case beyond a call to get a thorough investigation. “The lawyer general reports to me so I’ve got to be cautious about my statements to create certain that we’re not impairing any investigation,” he mentioned.
Yet his remarks Friday could possess a effective influence on how the public views the case. It was a uncommon White Home moment - a president identifying himself with a victim in a racially-charged shooting. Far more broadly, it drew attention to the way young black males are seen by a predominantly white society.
No matter if Zimmerman acted legally within the Feb. 26 shooting and whether the Sanford, Fla., police acted adequately in declining to arrest him turn in massive component on how the victim is viewed.
Zimmerman, 28, has claimed he shot Martin, 17, in self-defense just after calling police to say he was following a person in his gated community who he believed was acting suspicious. Supporters of Martin’s family have said the high school student was merely walking to a relative's household and that nothing at all about him could reasonably have been regarded as suspicious or threatening.
Martin’s parents appeared to acknowledge that Obama’s public identification with their son carried massive symbolic significance.
“The president's personal comments touched us deeply,” they mentioned. The remarks “made us wonder: If his son looked liked Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious as well?”
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who has been in close make contact with with the Martin family members, expressed a view held by quite a few black leaders: that getting targeted for violence “is the reality of getting a black boy in America.”
“It’s a problem that has existed for generations due to the fact slavery,” she mentioned, expressing the hope that Obama’s remarks may possibly transform how black males are perceived.
“Every time the president is realistic about a scenario, it helps the country grow and mature,” she mentioned.
Obama’s comments were not written in advance, aides stated, but they came following a week in which the president has been closely following the case. For the duration of a trip to Western states over the final two days, he read articles regarding the shooting and commented privately about how the teenager’s loved ones must really feel, and how he would take such news if it ever came to his door.
On Thursday, Obama referred to as the Rev. Al Sharpton to express condolences over the death of Sharpton’s mother. Sharpton was on his way to a rally regarding the case which he had helped organize. Aides said they assumed the two men talked about the shooting, despite the fact that Obama did not explicitly tell them so.
Initially, the president had hesitated to speak publicly about the shooting, concerned that he would appear to become trying to affect the outcome in the case, but over the week his view shifted. “He did not need to jeopardize the independent investigation,” a senior administration official mentioned, “but he also felt that we ought to ask ourselves how this could happen.”
On his way out for the Rose Garden on Friday morning to announce a nominee to head the Planet Bank, he told aides that he would comment on the Martin case if asked about it - a contrast with his frequent practice of spurning questions in formal settings if they depart from the topic from the day.
He was “speaking as a parent,” said the official. “He was pretty deeply troubled by the death of an extremely young man.”
The comments shifted the White Property position, which had been to keep a distance from the case. Tuesday, for example, Press Secretary Jay Carney had said only that “we right here in the White House are conscious of the incident” and that “our thoughts and prayers go out to Trayvon Martin's loved ones, but clearly, we're not going to wade into a nearby law-enforcement matter.”
By contrast, Obama stated that “it is completely imperative that we investigate each aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together - federal, state and local - to figure out exactly how this tragedy occurred.” People today ought to “examine the laws as well as the context for what happened, too because the specifics in the incident,” he mentioned.
Republican presidential hopefuls joined Obama in his contact to get a thorough investigation.
“What occurred to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy,” Mitt Romney mentioned inside a written statement. “There desires to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity.”
Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich 2012, Barack Obama 2012, Newt Gingrich, President Obama, Video, Trayvon Martin, Newt Gingrich Trayvon Martin, Politics News
Newt Gingrich: Obama's Trayvon Martin Statement 'Disgraceful'
Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich slammed Barack Obama on Friday, saying the president's remarks regarding the fatal February shooting of Trayvon Martin had been "disgraceful."
President Barack Obama addressed Martin's death through a Rose Garden appearance earlier Friday, framing the tragedy in private terms by saying, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Gingrich responded to Obama's remarks through a "Hannity Radio" interview:
What the president stated, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background must be safe, period. We should really all be horrified regardless of what the ethnic background.
Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that will be OK since it didn’t look like him. That is just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot. It would happen to be a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point, we ought to speak about getting Americans. When things go incorrect to an American, it really is sad for all Americans. Attempting to turn it into a racial problem is fundamentally wrong. I actually discover it appalling.
Gingrich's comments came amid boiling public outrage more than the death of Martin -- an unarmed, 17-year-old African American shot by a volunteer neighborhood watchman. The former Residence speaker commented on the shooting Thursday in the course of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, calling it a "tragedy."
Reporting from Washington-
Declaring that “if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon,” President Obama chose a highly personal solution to join the heated national debate more than the death of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
Obama took care to voice no opinion on the conduct of the shooter, George Zimmerman, or any legal aspect in the case beyond a call to get a thorough investigation. “The lawyer general reports to me so I’ve got to be cautious about my statements to create certain that we’re not impairing any investigation,” he mentioned.
Yet his remarks Friday could possess a effective influence on how the public views the case. It was a uncommon White Home moment - a president identifying himself with a victim in a racially-charged shooting. Far more broadly, it drew attention to the way young black males are seen by a predominantly white society.
No matter if Zimmerman acted legally within the Feb. 26 shooting and whether the Sanford, Fla., police acted adequately in declining to arrest him turn in massive component on how the victim is viewed.
Zimmerman, 28, has claimed he shot Martin, 17, in self-defense just after calling police to say he was following a person in his gated community who he believed was acting suspicious. Supporters of Martin’s family have said the high school student was merely walking to a relative's household and that nothing at all about him could reasonably have been regarded as suspicious or threatening.
Martin’s parents appeared to acknowledge that Obama’s public identification with their son carried massive symbolic significance.
“The president's personal comments touched us deeply,” they mentioned. The remarks “made us wonder: If his son looked liked Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious as well?”
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who has been in close make contact with with the Martin family members, expressed a view held by quite a few black leaders: that getting targeted for violence “is the reality of getting a black boy in America.”
“It’s a problem that has existed for generations due to the fact slavery,” she mentioned, expressing the hope that Obama’s remarks may possibly transform how black males are perceived.
“Every time the president is realistic about a scenario, it helps the country grow and mature,” she mentioned.
Obama’s comments were not written in advance, aides stated, but they came following a week in which the president has been closely following the case. For the duration of a trip to Western states over the final two days, he read articles regarding the shooting and commented privately about how the teenager’s loved ones must really feel, and how he would take such news if it ever came to his door.
On Thursday, Obama referred to as the Rev. Al Sharpton to express condolences over the death of Sharpton’s mother. Sharpton was on his way to a rally regarding the case which he had helped organize. Aides said they assumed the two men talked about the shooting, despite the fact that Obama did not explicitly tell them so.
Initially, the president had hesitated to speak publicly about the shooting, concerned that he would appear to become trying to affect the outcome in the case, but over the week his view shifted. “He did not need to jeopardize the independent investigation,” a senior administration official mentioned, “but he also felt that we ought to ask ourselves how this could happen.”
On his way out for the Rose Garden on Friday morning to announce a nominee to head the Planet Bank, he told aides that he would comment on the Martin case if asked about it - a contrast with his frequent practice of spurning questions in formal settings if they depart from the topic from the day.
He was “speaking as a parent,” said the official. “He was pretty deeply troubled by the death of an extremely young man.”
The comments shifted the White Property position, which had been to keep a distance from the case. Tuesday, for example, Press Secretary Jay Carney had said only that “we right here in the White House are conscious of the incident” and that “our thoughts and prayers go out to Trayvon Martin's loved ones, but clearly, we're not going to wade into a nearby law-enforcement matter.”
By contrast, Obama stated that “it is completely imperative that we investigate each aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together - federal, state and local - to figure out exactly how this tragedy occurred.” People today ought to “examine the laws as well as the context for what happened, too because the specifics in the incident,” he mentioned.
Republican presidential hopefuls joined Obama in his contact to get a thorough investigation.
“What occurred to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy,” Mitt Romney mentioned inside a written statement. “There desires to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity.”
Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich 2012, Barack Obama 2012, Newt Gingrich, President Obama, Video, Trayvon Martin, Newt Gingrich Trayvon Martin, Politics News
Newt Gingrich: Obama's Trayvon Martin Statement 'Disgraceful'
Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich slammed Barack Obama on Friday, saying the president's remarks regarding the fatal February shooting of Trayvon Martin had been "disgraceful."
President Barack Obama addressed Martin's death through a Rose Garden appearance earlier Friday, framing the tragedy in private terms by saying, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Gingrich responded to Obama's remarks through a "Hannity Radio" interview:
What the president stated, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background must be safe, period. We should really all be horrified regardless of what the ethnic background.
Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that will be OK since it didn’t look like him. That is just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot. It would happen to be a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point, we ought to speak about getting Americans. When things go incorrect to an American, it really is sad for all Americans. Attempting to turn it into a racial problem is fundamentally wrong. I actually discover it appalling.
Gingrich's comments came amid boiling public outrage more than the death of Martin -- an unarmed, 17-year-old African American shot by a volunteer neighborhood watchman. The former Residence speaker commented on the shooting Thursday in the course of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, calling it a "tragedy."
