Obama’s Demeanor at Fort Hood Memorial Service Was Much Better Than His Initial Comments About Shootings: He Needs to Get Off the Teleprompter When Something’s Going On

President Obama’s demeanor at the Fort Hood memorial service yesterday was much more appropriate than his initial reaction at the Native American conference he was making comments at.

I had a hard time believing that a U.S. President would say the things that President Obama said, and how he said it at the time. It would have been much more appropriate for him to move his remarks about Fort Hood to just after his thanking the hosts. But instead he gave a “shout-out” to someone he misidentified as a Medal of Honor recipient, which added fuel to the fire, and brought up the shooting as an afterthought. That was how it appeared at the time. He made it look like the shooting was an inconvenience, and his statements did nothing to change any minds about that point.

Thankfully, he was the President and Commander-in-Chief at Fort Hood. Much better performance, though I didn’t think he should have mentioned the shooter as extensively as he did. It probably would have meant more as well if he had written more of the speech himself.

Still, overall, it was a mixed performance.