Obama at memorial to focus on serving country

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   >>> president obama is heading to arizona at this hour where he is expected to meet with the families of the shooting victims. before ahending tonight's memorial. david remnick is the author of "the bridge" the rise and fall of president obama . the bridge just out in paper back. congratulations, david, it's an extraordinary book. the epilogue updates it with a new interview with the president. he said in terms of communication, speaking of tonight that tonight's speech is going to be pivotal for the president. why?

   >> well, remember why the public that did like barack obama and does like barack obama kind of liked him in the first place. it had to do with his life story , it also had to do with a demeanor, with a sense of how political dialogue should be carried on, and a sense of propriety, a sense of calm and cool. i think we have seen replayed the last couple of days pivotal speeches by ronald reagan in the wake of tragedy and bill clinton in the wake of the oklahoma city bombing and this is barack obama 's moment and i think that he will rise to it. and i think he will not court controversy. i don't think he'll take on in any full throated way the discussion about a toxic political atmosphere. i think he knows well that to join those two subjects where you basically have somebody who's incredibly sick, carrying out a horrendous, brutal act and then joining it automatically and to automatically to the political atmosphere which is admittedly toxic courts not only political danger, but a kind of ethical danger.

   >> you've been surprised at his failure to communicate more effectively in his first two years in office, especially considering all the skills that he showed during the campaign.

   >> i think also considering his achievements. i think his achievements have been really considerable, beginning but not only health care , despite whatever compromises he had to make. look at this last run of achievements, legislative achievements in the lame duck session . i love all of it. i certainly didn't love the maintaining tax breaks for the rich. but by any measure, that was a very successful run and in many ways, the first two years was successful largely in the aversion of worst disaster, economic and otherwise and his ability to sell those achievements to gain political credit for them has been not what we might have imagined when we remember the communicator of the campaign.

   >> what do you think about sarah palin 's statement today. it looked official, the flag and very carefully scripted. in that context, having put so much effort into it, waited for self-days, come out with this video brilliantly timed some would say to draw an inevitable comparison with the president, why use the phrase blood libel ?

   >> god knows because blood libel is something that anybody with a knowledge of jewish history knows the deep and terrible meaning this has. i don't know why she would use that phrase, ignorance may be the best, but not a particularly satisfying explanation for it. that said and i am no fan of sarah palin , and i think she's a politician that began her national career with the enunciation of all kinds of toxic things including palling around with terrorists and all the kind of rhetoric we remember very well from the campaign, which has never really stopped. i think to associate her in a very direct way with this terrible tragedy is wrong. i just do.

   >> and what do you think of her presentation on the video?

   >> well, any time you have a presentation where you use the crucial phrase becomes blood libel , i think you've made a terrible mistake and that mistake is going to be contrasted with a very eloquent and composed presentation tonight by the president and a deeply felt one and i don't think he's capable of that kind of rhetorical misstep.

   >> thank you very much david.

   >>> and stay with us for special live coverage of course of tonight's memorial beginning at

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