"The heartbreaking events of this weekend," said one young lady, early on in the evening -- one of Gabby's interns. She got a round of enthusiastic applause. It kind of threw me. But it was just one of multiple rounds of applause to come -- they were a constant throughout, even before Obama, the headliner, rose to speak. A long line of dignitaries and the suddenly dignified, ordinary folks who happened to be proximate to the event, preceded him. And there was this weird applause throughout.
Applause rocked the house for Professor Gonzalez, who gave the Native American blessing (it seemed endless) at the beginning. He stuck in a couple of digs in the direction of ancient history (pronouncing "Tucson" in the old Indian way, before faux correcting himself, also to applause (but not so much)).
And the president of the University never missed a chance to hype his school, going so far as to cite the "outstanding leadership" of Governor Jan Brewer as he introduced her. And the kids in the bleachers again broke out in applause that was utterly indistinguishable from what they might have done if they were in a TV studio for a live game show. I was getting disoriented. I couldn't believe that this applause was as mindless as it sounded. Then Jan Brewer was saying we will go forward unbowed and undefeated and there was a HUGE outburst of applause. So maybe the applause was defiant? Were they applauding themselves for being there? Nowadays, when we get together to "heal" after a "great trauma," do we clap for our own courage?
Then the Prez of U of A laid it on for Obama -- he knew that this was his big draw, he knew that this is why there are 14,000 people in the building and 13,000 outside, taking it in virtually. And indeed the clapping and yelling knew no bounds at that point. Obama said something like there is nothing he could say that "could heal the hole torn in your hearts." They didn't exactly clap for that -- but within a couple of sentences, when he said that Gabby is a fighter and will prevail, the hole in their hearts seemed to fill pretty quick, and they clapped and clapped again.
Then Obama mentioned that Judge Roll was a graduate of the U of A Law School -- and there was a wave of applause for that shout-out to the good old alma mater. Then he mentioned a man who covered his wife's body with his own and was shot to death as a result. The dead man got a round of applause too.
Then came the semi-climax. With the husband's permission, Obama shared the private information that during his brief visit to Gabby's bedside -- she opened her eyes! That meant, Obama said, that she "knows we are rooting for her." The applause busted out big time on that. Then he did a Reagan shout-out to every ordinary person who helped out on that day and the place went nuts -- clapping and yelling for everyday heroes. Obama knew what he was doing. That much I was clear on.
Then Obama went on to tell us how we can see ourselves in these people who were shot and died. He went through the victims one by one and made the identifications specific -- our husbands and wives (and "life-partners") and children, one by one.
So what I wondered was if all this applause testified to unprecedented depths of narcissistic shallowness -- or was it some new way of defying death and despair, some postmodern Irish wake sort of thing? Or both?
But then came the old Obama from 2008, for the real climax. Front and center, he gave us Christina-Taylor Green -- the slaughtered 9-year-old who was born on 9/11/01 and was an enthusiastic member of her student council in elementary school. In her innocence, Obama told us, she imagined a politics and a country through her child's eyes. He then told us -- again to great applause, huge applause -- that we should come together and try to live up to this 9-year-old child's image of our country.
Well. What can I say? Ronald Reagan, the greatest of identity politics practitioners, couldn't have done better.
Is that a good thing?
I live in Tucson, and I attended the Wednesday memorial service at which President Obama and several other attendees were cheered and applauded repeatedly during the evening. I suspect that anyone who is criticizing the good citizens of Tucson did not stand with them for six and eight and twelve hours to get in to this event. Perhaps if they had, those critics might have understood the grand emotions those twenty-five thousand people were feeling: sorrow for the dead and their families, joy for the survivors and their loved ones, hope for our city and our country, and knowledge that the others around us were joined in those emotions. Please excuse us if we did not conform to some New York or Washington, D.C. model of decorum in our expression of feelings. And please do not try to politicize our gathering in retrospect. We had just gone through four days of hell, and still had to face on Thursday and beyond the final services for those we had lost. We came together with our leaders to look for a way forward. We came to cheer our heroes, the student who staunched Gabrielle Giffords’ wounds, the people who wrestled the gunman to the ground and held him for the police, our medical community which poured its soul into saving our victims, and the elected leaders who bravely showed us that democracy had not been assassinated by a mad man.
Did we cheer and applaud? Loudly and happily.
problem with that: whatever, it's a Tucson thing, you wouldn't understand....
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911prayer&memorialaddress.htm
So sad many wanted to see a dark, hopeless event.
Applause was appropriate---a celebration of life in the midst of death. Sometimes there are tears of sadness mingled with tears of joy.
Only the shooter is to blame for the horrendous events of Saturday morning - no matter what "set him off". I only pray he will not avoid justice by the "insanity plea".
I clapped and cried last night.
I am proud of the people of Tucson and very proud of President Obama.
United we stand, divided we fall.
I confess that the applause was a bit jarring to me. But I think the author of this piece is not understanding something: We, as Americans, don't grieve as many other cultures do. We don't "rend our garments" as the Israelites did in the Bible. We don't grieve loudly on the streets as Muslims do. We have this strange, other-worldly idea that we should only grieve in private or in small settings. But when a tragedy such as this occurs, the President can, and should, speak to the nation. And given that Tucson may be a fairly large city, it is not one known for incidents such as this. It's not "the murder capital of the U.S." or some such thing.
So I think the applause was a sense of, "Yes, we ARE good people here. We are NOT like this gunman. And we CAN come together in unity and show what people from Tucson believe in." And the applause was merely an expression of that.
Jarring initially, perhaps. But appropriate, given the circumstances and the setting, I think. Those in attendance were simply expressing THEIR audible agreement with what the President (and others there) was/were saying. I don't think that's wrong.
This tragedy was our tragedy. It occured on a sunny morning in Tucson when we all were going about our business. It happened to "our" neighbors and friends...in "our" Safeway.
Why did we cheer? Because we'd been grieving and this event...this "memorial"...this coming together of our President, Governor....the first responders...the families of the victims...the citizens of our city gave voice...gave acknowledgement to our pain.
We're not L.A....or NYC...Chicago...Baltimore...Washington... We're a small place...a dot on a map. We thank everyone who has acknowledged the pain this city and it's inhabitants have experienced and we cheer...we cheer loudly for lives well lived...for service to our country and the people who live here. We cheered you all of you...all of us...
We don't expect the country to understand...we do expect the country to respect however we decide to respond and deal with what occured in our city.
From Nevada I wish Tucson the best!
By far the biggest lie of the evening.
The applause was a needed release of emotions, nothing more or less.
On the other hand, this wasn't a funeral. And I'd like to believe that President Obama chose to celebrate the lives of the fallen and the heroes among them. Let their families mourn them--who are we to participate in something so personal?