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| President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing at the White House in Washington, Friday, April 19, 2013, regarding the Boston Marathon bombing and the explosions in West, Texas. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- For President Barack Obama, one of his most wrenching White
House weeks saw the fresh specter of terrorism and the first crushing
political defeat of his new term, and the more emotional side of a
leader often criticized for appearing clinical or detached.
The
events presented sharp tests for a president committed to an ambitious
agenda in the limited window offered by a second term.
There
was the challenge to reassure a nervous nation about threats at home
and to keep the rest of his legislative goals on track after the Senate
rejected gun control measures that had become his top priority.
"This
was a tough week," Obama said late Friday, shortly after authorities
captured the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.
The
Boston Marathon explosions and the gun votes overshadowed other events
that would have captivated the country and consumed the White House
during almost any other week.
An explosion
leveled a Texas fertilizer plant, killing at least 14 people. Letters
addressed to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., were found to contain
traces of poisonous ricin in tests, evoking parallels to the anthrax
attacks after Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's not new,"
David Axelrod, the president's former senior adviser, said of the White
House balancing act.
"It's never welcome, but it's not entirely
unexpected."
The full fallout of the events
and their impact on Obama's presidency remains uncertain. That's
particularly true in Boston, where the motivations of the two brothers
accused in the bombing are unknown, as are their connections to any
terrorist network.
But the capture of the
teenager whose older brother was killed attempting to escape police
brought closure to Boston and the White House.
Throughout
Friday, Obama aides watched coverage of the manhunt on Boston
television stations being specially broadcast throughout the White
House. When the search appeared to stall, the president retreated to the
residence, but returned quickly to the Oval Office when news reports
showed authorities closing in on 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Shortly before 9 p.m., FBI Director Robert Mueller relayed news of his capture to Obama counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.
"They
have him in custody, it is white hat," Monaco quickly wrote in an email
to the president's chief of staff Denis McDonough, describing the hat
the younger Tsarnaev was wearing in photos released by the FBI.
Just
one day earlier, Obama had been in Boston to speak at an interfaith
service for the three people killed and more than 180 others injured in
the blasts at the marathon's finish line.
Obama
balanced sorrow with resolve as he sought to console the grieving city.
He said Boston would "run again" and pledged to bring the "small,
stunted individuals" responsible for the bombings to justice.
His words won him rare praise from some Republicans, including former presidential rival Mitt Romney.
"I
thought the president gave a superb address to the people of this city
and the state and the nation," said Romney, a former Massachusetts
governor who attended the interfaith service.
Previous
terrorist attacks in the U.S. have turned into key leadership moments
for the men who occupied the Oval Office directly before Obama.
For
President Bill Clinton, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing proved an
opportunity to regain stature after his party's election defeats. For
President George W. Bush, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, were a chance
for the country to rally around a president elected under controversial
circumstances.
Obama's address in Boston was his second emotional appeal of the week.
On
Wednesday, he stood stone-faced in the White House Rose Garden after
the Senate struck down the gun control measures he pressed for following
the December massacre of school children in Newtown, Conn.
Flanked
by the families of the Newtown victims, Obama let his anger show. He
accused senators, including some fellow Democrats, of giving into their
fear of the National Rifle Association and called the vote a "shameful
day for Washington."
The White House, as it
looks to restore order after a hectic week, has promised to keep
fighting for stricter gun laws. But Obama's path forward is uncertain.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has shelved the issue
indefinitely and Obama almost certainly won't spend much political
capital getting them to do so.
Instead, the
president probably will focus acutely on immigration. The
long-anticipated release of a bipartisan Senate group's draft bill was
largely overshadowed by other events.
Unlike
his push on guns, Obama's immigration efforts have a clearer path to
passage. The growing political power of Hispanic voters, who
overwhelmingly sided with Obama in the November election, has led some
Republicans to drop their opposition to an immigration bill that could
grant citizenship to millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.
Still,
obstacles remain, a reality underscored when authorities disclosed that
the suspects in the Boston bombings were immigrants. While there was no
evidence that the men entered the U.S. illegally, some Republicans
seized on the events in Boston to raise questions about the existing
immigration system and the proposed changes.
Despite
the administration's desire to move on, former White House press
secretary Ari Fleischer said "the smartest thing the White House can do
is pause."
"Events are swirling furiously and
they need to give it time and space to let the events settle," said
Fleischer, who served in the White House during the Sept. 11 and anthrax
attacks.
Putting on the brakes could prove difficult for the Obama White House, which began the year with a bold domestic agenda.
Aides
know this year is their best chance of getting legislation through a
divided Congress, before lawmakers turn their attention to the 2014
elections, then the race to replace Obama.
