Don't Do It So I Did

I don't agree with a lot of what our president says, but I think what he says is delivered with passion.

I was reminded of that as I watched the news conference during which our president announced executive orders regarding gun control. I believe people at their word and by what they do. When our president shed tears as he spoke passionately about innocent people dying, I believed his tears were authentic. I won't fall prey to the idiots that might float absurd theories for his tears. I can only imagine that some conservative columnist, somewhere, thinks the president thought about only being president for the duration of 2016 and then having to move out and that thought was what made him tear up.

I don't think that.

I think a lot of times there is not enough passion displayed by elected officials. I understand that not every decision an elected official makes about every issue they are confronted with is one about which they are passionate. I am not passionate about gun control - it's not my thing. If you get me talking about whether Metallica is a great metal band that gets criticized each and every step of their career, then I will show passion. Try to have the same discussion about the Rolling Stones - a band I respect but don't necessarily list in my top trillion favorite bands - and I will be significantly less passionate during the discussion. Do tears and passion do show weakness? Perhaps. After all, when I am fearful, I do not think rationally and, sometimes, those thoughts lead to actions I would rather not mention.

I thought it was important to see what both MSNBC and Fox had to say about the press conference. I still routinely flip between those two channels. I do want to hear a different perspective, one that I am likely to disagree with, because I don't want to be one of those people that is dismissive of the opposing point of view without at least trying to understand their side of the issue. I've opined previously that rarely is an issue a 50/50 split and that realization, I think, is so integrated into the wiring of my brain that I can't resist gathering information.

Thus, after I watched Bill O'Reilly deliver his Talking Points memo, I flipped over to Chris Hayes on MSNBC. I listened as he talked with a Congressman, a Democrat from Maryland (I think) - and they were discussing the fact that there is no win in this situation for the president. Hayes pointed out that those that think the president is coming after their guns aren't going to like what he says and those who think the president should be doing more are not going to be happy with how small of an impact the details of his announcement will have on gun violence - they will say, for example, that these actions are not enough.

That all said, you can read about the news conference here and read Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo here.