President as Comforter-in-Chief

The tragic shooting in Tucson has so far been the biggest story of 2011. Like the Gulf Oil Spill, I greatly underestimated how important an event this would turn out to be. Although I did not really feel very effected events that seemed so far and distant, many people, my wife included, understandably were. Here's the Google Trends of the word Tucson for the last 30 days:

President Obama even spoke at the memorial service for the victims of the shooting. I normally don't watch those types of events, but after hearing so many good things about the speech, I couldn't resist watching the video. I was impressed. It was inspirational. It was personal. It was even Biblical. It convinced me that as much as mass media has made politics more about refining politicians than policy, there is a place for uplifting speeches. They shouldn't distract, but for the first time I'm convinced that could add.