In Arizona, Obama calls on nation to heal

TUCSON, Ariz. - Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama implored Americans yesterday to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way wounds."

Following a hospital visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her."

In a memorably dramatic moment, the president said that Giffords, who on Saturday was shot point-blank in the head, had opened her eyes for the first time shortly after his hospital visit. First lady Michelle Obama held hands with Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, as the news brought soaring cheers throughout the arena.

Speaking at a memorial in Tucson, Obama conceded that there is no way to know what triggered the shooting rampage that left six people dead, 13 others wounded and the nation shaken. He tried instead to leave indelible memories of the people who were gunned down and to rally the country to use the moment as a reflection on the nation's behavior.

"I believe we can be better," Obama said to more than 14,000 people at the University of Arizona basketball arena - and to countless others watching around the country. "Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us."

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a friend of Giffords, was one of those in the room when Giffords opened her eyes.

"All of a sudden she started to struggle to open her eyes," Gillibrand told CNN last night. "So Mark saw that and said, 'Open your eyes, Gabby, open your eyes.' She kept struggling and struggling and Mark just kept encouraging her. And within a moment she literally opened her eyes.

"It was a like witnessing a miracle," Gillibrand said.

Obama, in crafting his comments, clearly sought a turning point in the debate that has defined national politics. He railed against any instinct to blame or to drift into political pettiness or to latch onto simple explanations that may have no merit.

Obama's speech, by turns somber and hopeful, at times took on the tone of an exuberant pep rally as he heralded the men who wrestled the gunman to the ground, the woman who grabbed the shooter's ammunition, the doctors and nurses who treated the injured, the intern who rushed to Giffords' aid.

The president recalled how federal Judge John Roll was on his way from attending Mass when he stopped to say hello to Giffords and was gunned down; how Dorothy Morris, shielded by her husband, was killed nonetheless, and victim Phyllis Schneck, a Republican who took a shine to Giffords, a Democrat, and wanted to know her better.

He paid special tribute to Christina Taylor Green, 9, who was born on Sept. 11, 2001.

"She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted," Obama said. "I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it."

With Reid J. Epstein