At a commencement speech delivered by president Obama to the University of Michigan graduating class, the president once more seized the opportunity Obama was direct in urging both sides in the political debate to tone it down.
"Throwing around phrases like 'socialists' and 'Soviet-style takeover,' 'fascists' and 'right-wing nut' — that may grab headlines," he said. But it also "closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation," he said.
"At its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response," he said.
Passionate rhetoric isn't new, he acknowledged. Politics in America, he said, "has never been for the thin-skinned or the faint of heart. ... If you enter the arena, you should expect to get roughed up."
Obama hoped the graduates hearing his words can avoid cynicism and brush off the overheated noise of politics. In fact, he said, they should seek out opposing views."(1)
I recall Ramsey Clark using similar language in his defense for the activities of anti-nuke activists with a ghostly familiar ring to it: violent action is sometimes justifiable. The defense for the Plowshares Eight(2), which Clark put forth claimed their actions were justified because they promote a 'greater good.' "At issue is not whether the defendant acted legally, but whether [they] acted morally."(3)
This acknowlegement by the perpetrators that their actions violate the letter of the law is very shallow. As a graduate student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, I knew Molly Rush and the Thomas Merton Center (TMC), which was conveniently located 'under the Bluff' on Pittsburgh's South Side. I was introduce to the TMC because of my daliance at the Mill Hunk Herald.(4) Members of the Herald participated in the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Day march in Washington, D.C., in September 1981. It was here that I met Beth, a toothsome young blond, from the TMC who was bitten by the anti-nuclear bug in general, along with Molly Rush and the TMC, so it was only natural that I follow Beth. On June 12, 1982, a large gathering of protesters met to demonstrate in New York City's Central Park against nuclear weapons
and for an end to the cold war arms race. This was known as the largest political demonstration in American History.(5)
(2) http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ29-AntiNuclearProtests.html On September 9, 1980 Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, Dean Hammer, Elmer Maas, Carl Kabat, Anne Montgomery, Molly Rush, and John Schuchardt of the "Plowshares Eight" entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and hammered on Mark 12A nuclear warheads (a first-strike weapon for the MX missile). During their trial they were not allowed to present evidence on international law or the defense of necessity but were convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and criminal mischief and were sentenced to five to ten years in prison. They were defended by Ramsey Clark and others, and their appeals took ten years. Their trial is depicted in the movie In the King of Prussia with Martin Sheen playing the judge and the defendants playing themselves. Their disarmament action was followed by many other plowshare actions at General Dynamics Electric Boatyard at Groton, Connecticut, protesting the Trident submarines, and at other facilities where nuclear weapons are developed.
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