Victor David Hanson: What If?—Mr. President

"What if the President had said something quite different?—something a little bit more angry like, 'All Americans have had it with these mass murderers, whether formal terrorist plotters or individual assassins. I promise you we will find out what motivates a Major Hasan—and do my best to ensure that there are no more Major Hasans in our future.'"

"Instead of all this, what if the President of the United States had not called for a Saturday night vote on Health care, in which he used the outrage over the Fort Hood horror to win back wavering votes, while slurring his enemies. What if instead he had said something like, 'Let’s have the debate and vote take place in prime afternoon time, to encourage the American people to follow the proceedings. And let us conduct the entire process without calling each other names.'"

"So again, what if, Mr. President, you had instructed Robert Gibbs instead to issue something like the following warning, 'We saw this polarization five years ago with George Bush when he was unfairly demonized by the Left with unmentionable slurs and smears, so let’s not repeat that tawdry chapter in American political history in the present debate.'"

"Instead, what if the President had told his staff, 'I disagree with much of what airs on Fox News, but no one in this administration is going to strong-arm anyone from appearing on it. We believe in freedom of expression and are not about to start blacklisting those who associate with a news organization.'"

"What if instead Barack Obama had said, 'We will try to do our best in government to partner with you. I know that I was not forgotten or ignored, but instead was given all sorts of private, state, and federal financial help to ensure that I could attend the most prestigious prep, undergraduate, and graduate schools in the nation. I want to ensure that all others so qualified get the same wonderful opportunities that I enjoyed.'"