The Healer in Chief

In case you missed Obama's widely and highly regarded remarks last night her it 'tis as well as one pundit's commentary.

From Joe Klein at Time...

Barack Obama spoke to the city of Tucson, and to the United States of America, not so much as our President tonight, but as a member of our family. He spoke as a son--I couldn't help but think of his personal regret over not being by his mother's side when she passed as he said, "Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder." You could see the devastation insinuate itself onto, and then be quietly willed away from, his face. He spoke as a brother to his fellow public servants, killed and wounded in the events--an eager brother bringing the glad tidings the Gabrielle Giffords had opened her eyes. He repeated it, joyously, three times. But most of all, he spoke as a father--rising to a glorious peak describing the departed 9-year-old, Christine Taylor Green, a girl near the age of his daughters, whose own deaths, perhaps in the line of fire, he had so clearly been thinking about. And he spoke, more broadly, as the head of our national family, comforting, uplifting, scolding a little, nudging us toward our better angels.

Obama does "healing" speeches extremely well. Many have said this is his best speech thus far. My personal favorite is his race speech during the campaign. Hopes were high after that speech in the spring of '08 that it would signal a turning point in race relations in the U.S. Hopes are also high now that last night's speech will lead to a ratcheting down of the political vitriol. The first didn't occur and unfortunately, I'm doubt the second will either.