Words like Butterflies in the Sun

"Look!", Mari said. "He is catching butterflies!"

It was a small boy, swatting at something with a net. It did not appear to be producing the results he intended, and I quietly applauded his ineptitude. I am on the side of the butterflies.

I suppose there are times when catching butterflies is defensible,
but I would rather applaud flattening flies with a swatter.

There are people whose genius is to catch words--just the right words at the right time--and our President is such a person. I have heard that, in office, he is not a warm and personable politician. I think that such comments come from people who want the President to invite them over in the evening, for whiskey and stories. It is obvious that he is a warm and wonderful father, but it may be that he doesn't schmooze well with Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, or even his political allies, but who are we to fault him for good judgment?

Barack Obama is at his finest when he has time to catch the words to say what we wish we could have said half as well. "No more secret funeral flights from Iraq and Afghanistan!", he said, and he went and stood there when grief was deepest. He has captured our pride and our grief, and put them to words. He has given voice to our political shame, and to our hope. He dignified our grief at Sandy Hook School, and said what every parent felt. He promised that the bombings in Boston would become an occasion for our resolve not to be intimidated.

"Yes!", we keep saying: "Yes! That is how we feel!"

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