[Peace-discuss] opinion shapers

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Never let a disaster go to waste.


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is using unusually personal 
terms to speak about the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in 
Florida.

Speaking to reporters at the White House today, Obama said if he had a 
son, he would look like Trayvon Martin, the teen killed by a 
neighborhood watch member in an Orlando suburb last month.

The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation 
into the case and local authorities have convened a grand jury to 
determine whether to charge the shooter, George Zimmerman. Obama called 
the incident a "tragedy" and said Martin's parents are right to expect 
that "every aspect" of the case will be investigated.

The Republican presidential candidates are also weighing in.

Referring to the Florida law that gives people latitude to use deadly 
force rather than retreat during a fight, Rick Santorum says: "Stand 
your ground is not doing what this man did."

Newt Gingrich says people should have a right to self-defense, but the 
question in this case is whether Zimmerman was the instigator.

Mitt Romney calls the shooting a "tragedy," and echoed the president's 
call for a thorough investigation.