ABOUT A FUNERAL

President George H.W. Bush's funeral was dignified. It felt also as much about him as it was about an American "story", lost for now. All the presidents present seemed aware of this "double" requiem. The difference being that the current president was "in attendance", while the others were "participants". The eulogies coming out of this administration felt like so many unwelcome intrusions. History is a tragedy and not a morality tale (Christopher Hitchens).

The former president was not a natural born leader, neither was he without failures. He was more a man who was able to learn from his mistakes and never blame others for having erred. His belief in the moral imperative in American leadership convinced the skeptics and the losers.  He was gracious in winning and reached out rather than humiliating. In all this he was the opposite of the current squatter in the White House. It was equally remarkable that the people and friends around him represented the best in America. Trump confronts us daily with the worst.

The truce in the vitriol will be short-lived as was the reluctant handshake between President Obama and his nemesis. Unlike George H.W. Bush's heart, the twitter will never stop as long as Trump is preoccupied with spewing his fake news. At least America received a pause, a short period of mourning and respite. One has to wonder what the Millennials might have been thinking, watching this procession of old men and women talking in a vocabulary which is out of place about issues that are out of value. There was some King Lear feeling under the majestic vaults of Washington Cathedral, the usurper and the mourners looked equally old and dispirited.