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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, March 24, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Response to tragedy Tragedies are coming at us too tragedy of this kind, are resigned to fast to keep track. evil in the world and reminded that Brussels. Paris. Ankara, it’s up to them to defend themselves twice. San Bernardino. Umpqua and their family. Community College. Newtown. But when the tragedy is Downtown Manhattan. international terrorism instead of the We all have a human response to domestic kind, the script Àips. such events: Anger. Fear. Sadness. Conservatives are more likely Confusion. A steely resolve to not be to stare in disbelief and want quick intimidated by violence. action. They want drones in the sky. But even in times of tragedy, They want boots on the ground. we slip too quickly into political They refuse to live in a world where pitfalls that divide us. It pigeonholes someone can blow themselves up our thinking and keeps us from the and kill innocent people and our well-rounded response required government’s response is not swift to confront a serious, complex and powerful. problem. In this situation, liberals are There’s nothing wrong with that more likely to take the deep breath. kind of response. They blame the After all, we feel murderous, hateful what we feel, perpetrators most The response believe what we all. But they see of liberals and of those people as believe, and we see the rare outlier, a the world as we conservatives subset in a world of see the world. But is flipped if mostly law-abiding, it’s disappointing people. that political the tragedy is peaceful differences impede They worry so quickly on real perpetrated by about prejudicial against human emotion a lone gunman, response and empathy, even a race, a religion before the smoke has or by a network or a region. They also see a wide cleared and blood of terrorists. has dried. web of underlying For this issues at play: countries where experiment, we’ll use the catch-all phrases “liberal” totalitarianism reigns and education and “conservative,” although neither is verboten, as well as a western culture more willing to bomb than are perfect descriptors. But take, for instance, the build. They preach patience and common response to a school peace, and try to rein in the kind of government-led warfare that they shooting. Liberals are more likely to believe contributes to this hatred and enemy-making. respond with absolute disbelief that Both responses in both situations we live in a world where this kind have value. So why can’t we of thing can happen. They want the incorporate parts of each of them? president to sign a law the next day, It’s clear that evil does exist in instituting tighter gun control or increased mental health funding and the world, and combating it requires a multi-pronged approach. It’s sad facilities. Conservatives, on the other hand, that in the wake of a massacre here in America we cannot even consider try to take a deep breath. They policy improvements. And it’s just believe that laws are not going as sad that in the case of terrorism to stop every psychopath in this world. They understand the inherent we cannot honestly confront the problem of Muslim extremism when inability to stop every bad deed and that is the culprit. murderous thought. They blame the These problems — violence and perpetrator ¿rst and foremost, but also point to underlying issues like a war and mental instability and a lack of mental health and the decline desire to destroy and earn celebrity and immortality — are complex and of societal mores. They certainly ingrained. In order to confront them, don’t think gun laws will make any multiple avenues must be explored. difference. And multiple outlooks on “Stuff happens,” Jeb Bush said the world can be bene¿cial, not about the shooting at Umpqua detrimental, to creating solutions Community College where nine people died. It was a heartless and that make do make progress, insensitive answer, but it is a clear however slight. It’s easy to shrug our descriptor of one kind of response. shoulders and say “stuff happens,” Conservatives, in the face of a but it does no good. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS Explaining Rubio’s defeat M IAMI — One of Marco campaign was on the skids, his Rubio’s informal circle of audience dwindled to paid staff and advisers was nervously blood relatives. The Rubio crowd looking at his iPhone early Tuesday wasn’t that different. evening at Rubio’s “Florida primary Anybody there, including Rubio night celebration” at Florida himself, might well have thought back International University. “The exit to the sky-high hopes after his well- polls look brutal,” he told me. received campaign launch at Miami’s He pointed to a question that asked Freedom Tower last April and ask: Byron Florida voters how they felt about the What happened? York federal government — enthusiastic, But people weren’t really in the Comment satis¿ed, dissatis¿ed, or angry? mood for analysis. Several mentioned Forty-¿ve percent of the voters said the brief phase of Rubio’s campaign they were dissatis¿ed, while another 40 in which he turned into an insult comic percent said they were angry. targeting Trump. Everybody How could the sitting senator was disappointed in that. Or from Florida — the highest- maybe it was the zillions of ranking federal of¿cial in his dollars in negative ads dropped state — survive at the polls on his head by his so-called when 85 percent of his voters friend Jeb Bush. But on a sad are dissatis¿ed or angry with night, nobody wanted to dig the federal government he too deeply. represents? Many were more likely to He didn’t. Donald Trump blame the voters — they’re beat Rubio 41 to 34 among just too angry — than Rubio. voters dissatis¿ed with the Indeed, that might become federal government and 58 to the accepted pro-Rubio 17 among voters angry with explanation of his loss; the the government. Rubio won country, in the middle of a 50 to 25 among those satis¿ed temper tantrum, just wasn’t in with the federal government, the mood for a fellow as sunny but that was only 11 percent of as Marco Rubio. the electorate. (The 2 percent Certainly they didn’t blame who said they were enthusiastic Rubio for his disastrous about the federal government foray into comprehensive was too small to divide immigration reform. But the between the candidates.) fact is, the Gang of Eight tarred Nevertheless, at 6 p.m., nearly everything Rubio did Team Rubio was still looking afterward. First, much of the for a way to stay in the race. What if he lost by Republican base disapproved of the bill’s single digits, maybe 5 to 9 percentage points? basic provisions. If that happened, and John Kasich pulled out Second, Rubio’s tortured efforts to distance Ohio, then maybe Rubio could stay in as part himself from his own work looked like a of the general #NeverTrump effort. massive Àip-Àop. After all, Rubio had been saying for a Third, many Republicans suspected Rubio couple of days that he would go on to Utah of doing Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Wednesday, win or lose. He would campaign bidding, which is about the worst thing that in the next primary state, and then do some can happen to a GOP senator. fundraising in California, and then on and Fourth, Rubio’s defense of the bill on. Of course, he had to say that. But when sometimes boiled down to accusing rival the votes actually came in Tuesday night, candidates of being as bad as he was, which the results were as brutal as the exit polls. wasn’t much of a defense. Trump won with 45.8 percent to Rubio’s 27.0 And ¿fth, on the issue front, especially percent — almost exactly the margin the polls on economic policy, some voters who were had predicted going into the primary. especially concerned about jobs saw Rubio as A discussion was held. Rubio made the an advocate for bringing more foreign workers only decision he could, and by 8:15 p.m. he to the U.S. at the expense of Americans was at the podium, his family by his side, already here. It was the problem that kept on announcing that his campaign was over. giving. “While it is not God’s plan that I be president In the end, Rubio told the crowd that he in 2016, or maybe ever,” Rubio told a deeply lost because he ran a hopeful and optimistic disappointed crowd, “and while today my campaign in a year in which angry, pessimistic campaign is suspended, the fact that I’ve voters just weren’t interested in hope and even come this far is evidence of how special optimism. America truly is, and all the reason more Rubio is 44 years old. In the past, the why we must do all we can to ensure that this Republican Party has been kind to losing nation remains a special place.” candidates who give running for president a The Rubio campaign picked a small venue second try. And Rubio has plenty of time to for such an important event. It was at the FIU give it another go. As I was leaving the FIU Arena, a basketball facility that seats 5,000. Arena, a man I had brieÀy chatted with earlier But it was held in the rather narrow atrium tapped me on the arm. He motioned to the big outside the arena itself. The space couldn’t Rubio campaign bus and said simply, accommodate a very large crowd, but the “He’ll be back.” crowd wasn’t very large. It was not, after all, Ŷ an event for a general audience. John McCain Byron York is chief political correspondent used to joke that when his presidential for The Washington Examiner. Rubio told the crowd he lost because he ran a hopeful and optimistic campaign in a year in which angry, pessimistic voters just weren’t interested. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES U.S. Senators Governor Ron Wyden Kate Brown Washington office: 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 La Grande office: 541-962-7691 Senator Jeff Merkley Bill Hansell, District 29 Washington office: 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 Pendleton office: 541-278-1129 U.S. Representative Greg Walden Washington office: 185 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6730 La Grande office: 541-624-2400 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us Representatives Greg Barreto, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-38 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
