 |
| OBAMA: The "big" gun, so to speak |
She
met with the family, and tried to create the impression that the president
himself hasn’t forgotten his home city of the past three decades. He cares!
THAT’S
PROBABLY WHY Obama himself plans to be in Chicago on Friday. Just three days
after he gives the State of the Union address (with Hadiya’s mother, Cleopatra,
expected to be present in Washington), Obama will be present in Chicago to give
a State of the City, so to speak.
It
will be interesting to see if Obama merely reiterates his recent rhetoric of
the need for stricter laws concerning firearms – particularly when it comes to
weapons with magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition at a time.
Or
will he come up with something genuinely relevant to Chicago? While the
firearms restrictions might be a legitimate point, the fact is that they are a
divisive issue. Keeping the focus there might solely turn Hadiya Pendleton’s
smiling face into some sort of symbol that the conservative ideologues will
demonize.
They’ll
probably argue that if Pendleton could have had some sort of weapon, she could
have shot at her attacker (even though that attacker likely wasn’t within clear
sight of the girl).
BUT
THIS IS a case where I’m not sure Obama is the official who needs to be most
active. I realize that the South Side activist types have been crying and
whining for days that Obama needs to be a physical presence in Chicago to
counter the violent images, and that this visit on Friday will go a long way
toward appeasing them.
But
when Obama is in Chicago that day, I’m wondering if more significant activity
will be taking place in Gary, Ind.
 |
| DART: Getting overshadowed? |
That
is where Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says he plans to be on that day. What he
says he hopes to accomplish is some sort of meeting with law enforcement
officials.
Because
while many Indiana residents like to denigrate Chicago and Illinois by claiming
we’re a violent cesspool, Illinois people like to think that all the firearms
being used for this violence are coming from Indiana.
SPECIFICALLY
BECAUSE THE Hoosier state has lesser restrictions on actually purchasing a
weapon – making it possible for people to legally buy a weapon there, then
surreptitiously allow them to “fall into” the hands of people who could not
legally get a weapon.
Dart’s
office uses the statistic from the University of Chicago Crime Lab that 20
percent of all firearms seized by Chicago Police since 2008 could be traced
back specifically to Indiana.
I’m
not saying that’s true or false. There probably is an element of legitimacy to
it – yet I also realize that a statistic can be found to verify the legitimacy
of just about anything that someone wants to believe.
The
idea that law enforcement officials in both states are ignoring the tendency to
blame each other, and are actually getting together to possibly work on the
problem is something of significance.
PERHAPS
MORE SIGNIFICANT than the idea of the president making an address that will get
public attention for a few seconds – until the news cycle spins on and we
become more concerned about whether or not the Chicago Bulls will actually
matter this season!
Personally,
I’m interested to see the public reaction to the dueling events.
For
the Associated Press reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent
Garry McCarthy were invited by Dart to join him in Gary in meeting with that
city’s police chief, Wade Ingram, and Lake County Sheriff John Buncich.
Why
do I have a hard time envisioning Obama’s former chief of staff venturing to
Gary to be with Dart when the president himself is in town? And why do I
suspect he won’t be alone – in that a lot of people will be lured into the pomp
and circumstance of the president rather than substance?
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment