Words Spoken, Will Deeds Follow?

President Obama gave a moving and truly heartfelt speech last night at an interfaith vigil for the victims of Friday's school shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

“We gather here in memory of 20 beautiful children and six remarkable adults,” he said, “They lost their lives in a school that could have been any school in a quiet town full of good and decent people that could be any town in America.”

He continued, “Here in Newtown, I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation. I am very mindful that mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts.”

Obama assured the people suffering in Newtown that the nation grieves with them.

“And you must know that whatever measure of comfort we can provide, we will provide,” he said. “Whatever portion of sadness that we can share with you to ease this heavy load, we will gladly bear it. Newtown, you are not alone.”

But the speech will be far more memorable than just for his all too tragically familiar role of the nation's Comforter-In-Chief.  President Obama took a turn towards calling for action to prevent another Newtown from happening again.

We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.

If there’s even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that’s visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that, then surely we have an obligation to try.

In the coming weeks, I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement, to mental health professionals, to parents and educators, in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this, because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine.

Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?

Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?

This is a President clearly willing to use the power of the Executive in order to get things done.  It looks like POTUS has put down a clear goal for his second term legacy here.

And I say, good for him.