Remembering Christina Taylor Green

14 January 2011 |permalink | email article

Emotion in public, unlike the tears shed by House Speaker John Boehner, has not been a notable staple for President Obama. But near the end of his speech at the University of Arizona on Wednesday, as described by the New York Times, he paused for 51 seconds and appeared to gather himself.

The audience was on its feet, and Obama had just laid down a stark and powerful gauntlet, challenging the country to live up to the expectations of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, whose death last Saturday morning became an emotional punch to the gut for many across the country. Finally, he began to speak again, describing a book published after Sept. 11, 2001 – the day Christina was born – that included her picture and simple wishes for a child’s life, including one inscription that read. “I hope you jump in rain puddles.”

“I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it,” Obama had just said. “All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to our children’s expectations.”

The president, who wrote the bulk of his speech himself, spoke eloquently of all six people who were killed in Tucson but it was Christina who provided the emotional underpinning. “Here was a young girl who was becoming aware of our democracy,” Obama said. “She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often take for granted.”

Obama made no explicit mention of his young daughter Sasha or her older sister, Malia. They were on his mind as he grappled how to respond to the shootings. But his perspective as a father came through and the impression was that he connected with millions nationwide on a more emotional level than at any time since his election - a soaring moment to remember as Christina was buried yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

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