I commented the other day on the White House’s lack of comment on the Trayvon Martin case, believing that less meant more — particularly since federal authorities were now involved in the case. One clarification I should have included that while commenting on the case could potentially be unhelpful, commenting on the tragedy would not be.
President Obama himself took the podium this morning to introduce his nominee for World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, and took a question from the press corps about Trayvon’s killing. While he stayed away from comments that could hinder the investigation, the President hit a perfect note in expressing what, frankly, no other President could have:
“..when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out why this tragedy happened…I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen. That means we examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident. But my main message is to the parents of Treyvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Treyvon and I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are gonna take this with the seriousness it deserves and get to the bottom of exactly what happened.” I would guess that there might even be some who are disappointed by that, who felt as if the President should’ve condemned George Zimmerman specifically. If people want Zimmerman brought to justice, again, the President’s words aren’t going to do it. All they can do is bring comfort.
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