There is a tone that Barack Obama has whenever he’s talking about something where you know he’s thinking, “This is so damn obvious that I can’t believe I have to say it out loud.” It’s a mixture of incredulity that people (generally Republicans and Fox “news” viewers) could be so fuckin’ stupid and disappointment that he has to say something that’s been said a million times before. But it’s also got an air of optimism behind it, that maybe it needs to be said over and over and this is just the burden we all bear. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the tone, and, goddamn, I’ve missed it.
Former President Obama’s eulogy at the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, one of the titans of the civil rights movement, was blissfully political. It was refreshingly confrontational. And it was in the spirit of Lewis’s entire life, as Obama well-knew. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lewis had asked Obama to bring the fire to his funeral, especially since it was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King had been pastor until his murder in 1968. What a better place and what a better time for Obama the fighter to finally, fully re-emerge. We missed you, man, and, holy shit, we need you.
