Huckabee Praises Obama For 'Easily His Best Speech,' Slams 'Sleazy Opportunists'

WASHINGTON -- The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the political response to it has become a litmus test of sorts for the emerging field of 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

Tonally, it has been a balancing act: expressing sympathy for the victims, empathy for the grieving, and indignation for the idea that conservative rhetoric played a contributing role. And it has managed to trip up at least one figure, Sarah Palin, whose seven-minute statement was reduced to a two-word phrase: "blood libel."

On Friday morning, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee tried his own hand, praising the president for giving "easily the best speech of his presidency" at the Tucson memorial service, before lashing out at "sleazy opportunists" who blamed it all on ideological opponents.

From his radio program:

First of all, congratulations to President Obama for what was easily the best speech of his presidency. He struck the exact proper tone in noting that while this does give us an opportunity to reflect upon the importance of being civil in our disagreements that it is wrong to assign blame for the personal violent actions of a mad man to other people's political speech.

Whether out of bias or a quest for controversy or maybe just out of habit some members of the chattering classes went chasing blindly after an angle that would stir the most heated responses and they lost sight of the real story and that is the worst possible failure for a journalist. Even now after the president spelled it out for them many are still making the same mistake and missing the point about the president's appearance at the memorial.

It is not about politics, whether it is going to raise his approval ratings or boost his reelection chances, and it certainly isn't about sleazy opportunists who leapt to blame a senseless tragedy on the political speech of whatever side they disagreed with. No, it was about 20 people in Tucson.... I can't believe that some people have to be continually reminded of this but some things really are bigger than politics and this is one of them. And all Americans should be grateful to our president for saying it beautifully.

What separates Huckabee's statement from Palin's is, basically, the timing. Both took umbrage with the press; Palin with a bit more spite. Both took time to offer condolences for the tragedy. But whereas Huckabee waited for Obama to speak before making his formal statement (he had commented on the shootings before), Palin preempted the president's address. In the process, she drew sharp and unflattering contrasts while Huckabee comes off as a touch gracious.

Comments

[kuhler]

01:49 PM on 01/17/2011

When President Obama concluded his speech, my thoughts were "well, the teabaggers can have their country if they want it, but that's the President of MY country." A proud moment for him and for all Americans.

[DocSyracuse]

04:56 PM on 01/17/2011

The ol' "teabagger" moniker again. Why don't you try to act more like YOUR President?

[kuhler]

07:23 PM on 01/17/2011

You don't say what you think they should be called, but I see pictures of them wearing teabags on their heads, so I consider the term appropriate.

[KarateKid]

11:06 AM on 01/17/2011

I think Huck is doing some self analysis and contemplating is _sleazy opportunism.

[Estevan Benson]

10:46 AM on 01/17/2011

I think Huck is talking about some of us here.

[DocSyracuse]

04:56 PM on 01/17/2011

Yes. I believe he is.

[Gary Crum]

11:52 PM on 01/16/2011

Only Sarah can make Mike look good...she's the perfect foil. Compared to Palin anyone with an IQ over 90 who doesn't need mental health services looks good.

[Morgan Express]

11:09 PM on 01/16/2011

Thank you Arizona College students. At least some people in Arizona have some intelligence and class.

[Jeff Camillo]

06:21 PM on 01/16/2011

Huckabee is "bought" and paid for just like Obama and McCain and just about everyone else.
Only two I believe are not bought are Ron Paul (Republican) and Ed Kucinech (democrat)?

[iconoclast6]

10:44 PM on 01/16/2011

Is it "Dennis Kucinich" that you mean?

Forgive my taking thepiss, but you sound like a deep cover teabagger.

[KarateKid]

11:08 AM on 01/17/2011

So are your teabagger heroes and heroines, Angle, O'Donnell, Miller, etc.

[Martin McCall]

06:01 PM on 01/16/2011

If I was Republican he would have had my vote in 2008.

[sgraham59]

02:38 PM on 01/16/2011

Wait til tomorrow

[Johnmac371]

02:20 PM on 01/16/2011

I hope everyone sees through all of the Republican adoration of this speech. It does the GOP absolutely no good to criticize the President with the shooting as the issue behind the speech.

Nobody in the GOP wants to give the President credit for anything. They've already admitted that. But here, the GOP did the politically correct thing. Would have be disastrous if they didn't.

[oldgeek1]

01:26 PM on 01/16/2011

A High Road comment Mike, good for you.

[Puller58]

10:32 AM on 01/16/2011

The Huckster may not be able to win the Tea Party over after all.  They want white hot rhetorical red meat delivered with fire and brimstone, and he's trying to be Mr. Nice Guy.

[DocSyracuse]

04:58 PM on 01/17/2011

Huck has zero chance of being the GOP nominee in '12. He is at the bottom of the polls.

[justalurker]

09:44 AM on 01/16/2011

"Easily his best speech"

I have trouble deciding which is his best speech, there are so many great ones.

There's his speech on race (best one in the past thirty years) that he delivered in March, 2008. (In the same week he also gave two excellent and lucid speeches on economic and foreign policy,)

There's his speeches to the world in Europe and Egypt which were refreshing for their honest, straight talk, He told the other countries what they did wrong in the past, what we have done wrong in the past, and that we can both act better in the future. (Fox news mainly showed clips of the middle part and disingenuously coined them "apology" speeches.)

His inauguration speech as the first black American president is, of course, historic.

His speech at the end of combat operations in Iraq was absolutely amazing in that both dems and repubs praised it. I didn't think it was possible for a politician to give a major speech on Iraq in 2009 without ticking off half the country, but he pulled it off.

And there's the amazing speech in Tucson.

With 5 or more speeches that I consider historic, it is hard to decide which one is best.

[jplanner]

09:50 AM on 01/16/2011

I love the race speech. You make me go back to see the Iraq speech now, I missed it. Thanks for reminder. I thought Clinton was much better orator...loved his emotion. Hate when people chalk Obama's talent up to (only) that. I really am most moved by his idea-dense content. He says things I didn't even think of, makes important associations. He teaches me even when not be a "lecturer". This last speech, he used the innocent motives of a child and her trusting faith in her country and the adults in it to remind us gently how to behave toward eachother. It was remarkable and real, and everyone could so identify with the truth in that idea that even Republicans on Fox were humbled and effusive in their praise. It was the idea of what he wanted to show us I think that let even them see, even if for not long, that we are all Americans first.

[justalurker]

10:20 AM on 01/16/2011

Agreed. Though I consider myself knowledgeable, I often find new insights and see new connections between history and current political issues after watching an Obama speech.

The speech at the end of combat operations in Iraq was actually in 2010 (my mistake). It is neither pro-war or anti-war, lets the facts of the war speak for themselves, and is free of both Bush bashing and jingoism. Here's a link to the 18 minute speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzO9LZzZoOk

[lisaman]

11:30 AM on 01/16/2011

While I thought Clinton was indeed a great speaker, I can't really distingiush either as better than the other I do however think what distinguishes them from the recent Republican Presidents, are brains, Clinton and Obama have them, Bush, Bush I, Reagan, did not.

[Donald Locke]

10:47 AM on 01/16/2011

Yes he has very good speech writers and he has very good delivery, not so well when the teleprompter is broken.

[Kramerica Industries]

07:28 PM on 01/16/2011

It's nice to know you haven't actually watched ANY of his speeches. Have a great New Year, Mr. Tr.0LL.

[indy girl]

11:43 PM on 01/16/2011

If that's all you can pick on him about, you don't have much.

[contrariandy]

09:44 AM on 01/16/2011

Another Repo distorting what both Obama and the media said. There's a difference between saying that Loughner was caused by Palin and others, which few if any said even in the initial pain of the moment, and saying that the Republican rhetoric was disrespectful and wrong and should not be continued in the future.
Had it been a Republican woman who was shot, the initial reaction would have been similar, but cooler voices would never have been heard.

[jplanner]

09:25 AM on 01/16/2011

I cant help liking Huckabee as a human being from what I see. And also, I dislike and am concerned by his politics and beliefs. I like him when he speaks of other things...then he reminds me. He'd make a great neighbor.

[Puller58]

10:34 AM on 01/16/2011

Reminds me of something Jack Warner of Warner Brothers said about Ronald Reagan running for governor of California.  "Wrong casting.  Jimmy Stewart for governor, Ronnie for best friend."

[Kramerica Industries]

07:33 PM on 01/16/2011

I agree; he would make a great neighbor. But just remember, he honestly thinks the Earth is 6,000 years old. He thinks dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time. Not true, as evidenced by science. He's pretty cool for a fundamentalist Baptist minister, but he's nonetheless living in the wrong century.

[BARRY08]

07:18 AM on 01/16/2011

Meet the Press”.
After a loud noise back stage during his speech Friday, Huckabee joked, “That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He’s getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him, and he dove for the floor.” The audience, who laughed as he started the line, turned quiet ( not surprising, what kind of a joke is that which requires three lines to deliver the wish of the person who utters it )

[jplanner]

09:26 AM on 01/16/2011

you are KIDDING, right? THis is horrible!

[doodlebug2]

10:12 AM on 01/16/2011

no it happened at a rally