President Obama sought Wednesday night to unite the country after last week's shootings in Arizona, saying the country cannot let the attack be "one more occasion to turn on one another."



The president called on the nation to transcend the heated rhetoric and blame-laying of both parties in recent months and the days following the shooting as he sought to move the debate to higher ground.



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"If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost," Obama said. "Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle."Obama, referencing scripture, described details of the six dead and 14 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and called for a national debate worthy of those such as 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who was killed.Obama, who has been somber and reflective since the shooting, powered through emotional remarks even as a student-heavy crowd of more than 14,000 at the University of Arizona, with thousands more watching on screens outside, sounded at times more like a basketball pep rally than the crowd at a memorial service.But the president brought everyone in the building to their feet when he announced that shortly after he visited Giffords in the hospital, "Gabby opened her eyes for the first time."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten GillibrandSunday shows preview: Lawmakers prepare for SCOTUS confirmation hearings before election Sunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Suburban moms are going to decide the 2020 election MORE (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) were all there for the moment when the congresswoman also raised her arm and gave a thumbs-up — something Pelosi said was "like a miracle."



Obama, who said shortly after the shootings that he was grieving both as an American and a father, time and again returned to the example of Green, who was born Sept. 11, 2001, and was described by most as a remarkable child with a passion for politics.



Obama described Green as "so curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic. So deserving of our love, and so deserving of our good example."

"I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us," Obama said. "That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed."



After days of quiet reflection and limited partisan sniping from pundits, the shooting took on a sharply political tone Wednesday morning when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin released a video refusing blame for the violence and calling on the media to cease with its "blood libel."



Obama addressed any finger-pointing, saying it is natural to look for answers in the wake of tragedy.



The president referenced the "national conversation" that has commenced "not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun-safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems."



"Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government," the president said.



But, quoting the book of Job, Obama said, "Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.



"For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack," Obama said. "None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind."



To that end, Obama pleaded with Americans not to "use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another."



"As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility," Obama said. "Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."



The president visited with Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, and other shooting victims at the University of Arizona Medical Center before traveling to campus for the service.

Giffords's husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, sat next to first lady Michelle Obama Michelle LeVaughn Robinson ObamaVoter registration spiked in days immediately following Ruth Bader Ginsburg death Michelle Obama says even former first families can get on each other's nerves during quarantine Obamas are 'most admired' man and woman in world: poll MORE. Next to the president was 20-year-old Giffords intern David Hernandez, credited by doctors with helping save the congresswoman's life.



"She knows we’re here, and she knows we love her, and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey," Obama said.

Other speakers at the service included Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Brewer's Democratic predecessor, who read from the book of Isaiah.



Giffords's office released a statement as the memorial service began, thanking Americans for their "outpouring of support" and praising the congressional leadership for its "words and deeds" of help in recent days.



"Even during the darkest times, our nation’s capacity for kindness and fellowship reminds us of the best in people," the release said.