Christina

I’ve never been a fan of word clouds, but this one from the Guardian shows why the President’s speech last night in Tucson was so brilliant:

In the center is the name that held the whole speech together: Christina.

It is her name and her face that has haunted us these last five days. Not that we don’t mourn for the others who lost their lives. We do. Not that we don’t pray together with Congresswoman Giffords’ family for her full recovery. We do. But the loss of someone so young, someone who could be our daughter or our granddaughter, touches us all in a way no other loss can.

Last night, Barack Obama spoke as our President, but he also spoke as father who saw in Christina’s eyes what he sees in his daughters’ eyes; what I see in Anna’s eyes:

Hope, untouched by cynicism.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.

From one father to another, thank you President Obama.