NBC journo: Story of severely wounded veteran at #SOTU “could apply to Obama”
Banging my head up against the wall this morning already. NBC News’ senior political editor Mark Murray tweeted this this morning about Army Ranger Cory Remsburg, the severely wounded veteran/hero President Obama introduced to America in last night’s State of the Union (via @Matthops82):
Obama's ending on Remsburg wasn't just a story about America — it also was a story about Obama. Nothing has ever come easy
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) January 29, 2014
And just in case you’re thinking 140 characters can’t possibly sum up Murray’s hero-worshippy position on Obama, think again (bolded emphasis added by me):
*** βAmerica has never come easyβ: Last nightβs speech also ended on an emotional — and upbeat — note when Obama recognized Army Ranger Cory Remsburg, who was almost killed in Afghanistan and continues to recuperate from a brain injury. βMy fellow Americans, men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy,β the president said. βOur freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble, we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged. But for more than 200 years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress.β That story could also apply to Obama himself: Nothing in his seven years on the national political stage (2007-2014) has come easy. The 2008 race for the Democratic nomination. Even that general election. The health-care law. The re-election campaign. And now the presidentβs current situation in which he finds himself bloodied and bruised after the botched health-care rollout. Perseverance is an important quality for any president. Bill Clinton was usually able to talk his way out of sticky situations. But Obamaβs M.O. is to grind it out. That, more than anything else, was the message he wanted to send last night — both he and the country are grinding it out.
Transition: Cut Dear Leader some slack, you guys! He’s putting himself on the out there on the political battlefield, taking all those bruising and bloody political risks, all for you!
MSNBC’s “Lean Forward” motto has somehow never seemed quite so fitting … until now. SMH …