No matter what you think of Obama the executive branch, it’s hard to argue that Obama the human being has been anything less than a model of class and dignity. As we saw again this week, when he took the deep breath for us, when he begged us not to let hearts turn to stone when the world is a quarry of hate, he is at his best when the rest of us are at our worst. Obama’s personal behavior has set a standard few presidents have ever reached. Singing happy birthday to his daughter, teasing, bantering or dancing with his wife of nearly a quarter-century... you can’t help feeling some of the joy of that union. On eleven occasions — Newtown, Tucson, Charleston, Dallas, among the venues of despair — he’s tried to summon words to heal a wound. If the words have sometimes failed him and us, the man, in his personal behavior, has not. Historical comparisons will be kind to him.
At www.nytimes.com
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