At an all-hands call later in the day after his tour of the ballistic missile defense-capable warship, Obama said his trip was about reaffirming the USA commitment to Europe’s security.
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WASHINGTON (AP) For President Barack Obama, the decision to return early from an overseas trip after a series of shocking shootings will prove to be easy compared to his next challenge: Comforting an America that has witnessed a rash of shootings.
The rituals of eulogizing the dead and consoling grief stricken relatives that Obama will endure Tuesday will be painfully familiar, after a string of visits during his presidency to cities scarred by mass shootings. While in Spain Sunday, the President condemned citizens who attack police officers, saying they are performing a “disservice to the cause” of criminal justice reform.
Former president George W Bush, his wife, Laura, and vice-president Joe Biden will also attend, and the ex-president will deliver brief remarks.
The sensitivity of the moment – and the stakes he faces in his attempt to stop racial violence from worsening – could make Tuesday’s speech one of Obama’s most important addresses on race of his political career.
“Maintaining a truthful and serious and respectful tone is going to help mobilize American society to bring about real change”, Obama said.
Chief Brown said police will “search every lead” to ensure they can rule out that other people were involved in the attack. “We have to come together and end all this”, he said.
“This suspect had been practicing explosive detonations and that the materials were such that it was large enough to have devastating effects throughout our city”, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said in an interview with CNN.
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, R, blamed Black Lives Matter protesters for the killing of police in Dallas, claiming that they sing “rap songs” that celebrate violence against police.
Obama planned a meeting Wednesday with a broader group that includes law enforcement, activists and academics.
During the almost two-hour session, Obama told Pasco and seven other police association officials that if Micah Johnson were still alive, he would have been prosecuted for a hate crime, “which is quite a precedent from our standpoint”, Pasco said.
The attack was the deadliest day for USA law enforcement since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
He was supposed to spend two days in Spain but cut the visit short because of the shootings.
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Greeting Spain King Felipe at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Obama acknowledged that “we’ve had a hard week in the United States”.
