(Pamela Cosel, Headline USA) Upon landing back in the U.S. from a trip overseas, President Biden on Tuesday afternoon addressed the nation from the White House in a speech about the killing of 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School.
But instead of focusing only on compassion for the families of the victims of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Biden turned political and predictably divisive in his comments.
The gunman, Salvador Ramos, 18, was killed on scene by a member of Texas Border Patrol, reported the Associated Press.
In a moment where Biden could have brought the country together over the suffering of the victims’ parents, he kept up the divide by blaming the gun lobby for the incident. His focus was political, not presidential.
He didn’t put blame on the shooter, nor on our culture, and not on a need for better mental health treatment. The president who promised at election time that he would unify the country has done anything but, especially just a few hours after the mass shooting took place.
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?” Biden said, according to the New York Post.
“Where in God’s name is our backbone — to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies? It’s time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen of this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, it’s time to act.”
Biden did say how painful it is to lose a child, comparing it to having a “hollowness in one’s chest” and being sucked into it.
While he quoted Scripture, Biden asked the nation to pray for the parents who lost children. Yet he did not offer condolences to those families. His next comment crudely demanded politicians stand up to the gun lobbies.
Biden had an opportunity, again, to bring the country together over a tragedy. Biden, again, failed to deliver, choosing instead to spew political and partisan rhetoric. A divided nation looked to him for leadership – and there was none.