Right-wing media attack Obama's introductory remarks
Fox Nation: “Appropriate? Obama Gives 'Shout Out' Before Fort Hood Remarks.” Fox Nation posted a video of the press conference on November 5 with the headline, “Appropriate? Obama Gives 'Shout Out' Before Fort Hood Remarks”:
Drudge headline: “Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting...” Drudge posted a link to a column by Robert A. George under the headline “Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting...” From the Drudge Report on November 6:
Commentary's Chavez: “He treated the event like a pep rally.” Linda Chavez wrote in a November 5 blog post for Commentary Magazine that “President Obama's rushed press conference was surprising in its flippancy nonetheless. Before he got to the issue on everyone's mind - namely the deaths of Americans in uniform - the president gave a 'shout-out' to government bureaucrats gathered for a previously scheduled conference at the Interior Department, complete with appreciative chuckles. He treated the event like a pep rally rather than a tragic occasion with a wider audience than those gathered in the room. I wonder how many media outlets will compare Obama's performance to President Bush's 'Pet Goat' moment on 9/11. I won't hold my breath."
GatewayPundit: Obama addressed shooting "[a]fter two minutes of smiling, pointing and dithering." GatewayPundit blogger Jim Hoft wrote on November 5, “After two minutes of smiling, pointing and dithering... Barack Obama finally got around to mentioning the massacre at Fort Hood in Texas. The president then went on to tell the audience what great admiration he has for the men and women in uniform...Except, of course, for those serving in Afghanistan who he refuses to support.”
Ben Johnson: Obama “feels there is no event so serious that it cannot be prefaced by a moment of glib hipness.” On November 5 Johnson wrote on David Horowitz' Newsreal website that Obama's “shout out” “says it all: our commander-in-chief feels there is no event so serious that it cannot be prefaced by a moment of glib hipness, no solemn loss so sacred he will deny himself a moment of wry self-indulgence. Soldiers were killed? Let's say hi to Joe first. An entire theater of war needs a plan to defeat the terrorists who struck America on 9/11? No reason I can't go golfing, shoot some hoops, and hit the town with Michelle.” Johnson added, “We desperately need an adult in the White House. Sadly, today's press conference proves we do not have one.”
American Thinker: “Our clueless C in C.” American Thinker blogger Clarice Feldman wrote on November 5, “Twelve soldiers were murdered in cold blood at Fort Hood. Thirty others were wounded. Our Commander in Chief calls a press conference and begins it with a long thanks to the Interior Department and Indians who just concluded a conference and then gives a good natured 'shout out' to an attendee, all with a studied nonchalance, before he even mentions the outrage on our military base.”