President Obama waded clumsily into the national outrage over the mass shooting at Texas this week by urging Americans to prioritize the memory of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis two years ago. 

“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer,” Mr. Obama wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”

The senseless massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 children and two teachers dead as well as the 18-year-old gunman.  Mr. Obama recalled that the violence unfolded only a day prior to the two-year mark of Floyd’s death, video footage of which sparked civil unrest across the nation. 

Mr. Obama tweeted further that “In the aftermath of his murder, a new generation of activists rose up to channel their anguish into organized action, launching a movement to raise awareness of systemic racism and the need for criminal justice and police reform.” He added a promotional push for his foundation. 

Rather than promoting unity, the president’s remarks could actually end up sowing more division. They were widely perceived as impolitic, tone-deaf, or worse. Fox News reported that a Washington Examiner contributor, Harry Khachatrian, quipped, “George Floyd is the real victim of Uvalde,” and that the Babylon Bee CEO, Seth Dillon, mocked the former president by tweeting: “‘It sucks those kids died, but remember George Floyd? He’s who I’m still thinking about.’ — Barack Obama.” 

A Blaze Media podcast host, Jason Whitlock, took the criticism to the next level, writing, “Little kids slaughtered at school is not the equivalent of Floyd dying after resisting arrest while high,” adding, “This is one of the worst tweets in history.”

The nation is still reeling from Tuesday’s shooting. On Wednesday night it emerged that police officers on the scene waited for up to an hour before breaking in to the classroom where the assailant was barricaded and engaging in his shooting spree  before he was shot and killed. As of early Thursday Mr. Obama had not tweeted anything pertaining to that disturbing report or other developments related to the massacre, one of the worst such in the nation’s history.