On Hold

All candidates, including Obama, postphoned all political events today in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. He was scheduled to speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs today. This is the right thing to do, and I commend the candidates. At the same time, I wonder, what are their motivations for doing so? It is truly out of respect?

In visiting the Web sites of the top three Democrats and Republicans in the polls, Obama and Edwards changed the entry to the Web site so that a black screen with support for victims is all that appears; Clinton's site had a big message as part of the page as did Guiliani. McCain's message was buried on his site after the page about donating and Romney had no message at all. I think part of how they respond is a demonstration to the American public how they will react when/if president to major disasters and tragedies.