Because it was hopeful and positive, even joyous, rather than morose.Also, Andrew Sullivan wrote reflecting the President's call to live up to the dreams of what those who died in Tuscon have for our country.
The standard comparisons of the past four days have been to Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster and Bill Clinton after Oklahoma City. Tonight's speech matched those as a demonstration of "head of state" presence, and far exceeded them as oratory -- while being completely different in tone and nature. They, in retrospect, were mainly -- and effectively -- designed to note tragic loss. Obama turned this into a celebration -- of the people who were killed, of the values they lived by, and of the way their example could bring out the better in all of us and in our country.
To rate this address on any political meter would be to demean it. The president wrested free of politics tonight and spoke of greater things. I pledge myself to try and follow his advice and debate with vigor and spirit and candor and bluntness, but with more civility, more empathy, and, yes, more love.
I was personally affected by this speech perhaps more than any other political speech I've ever heard, and I think that's because it focused so much on people's personal lives, who the six victims of the shooting were as wives and husbands, parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, neighbors and colleagues. You could see in his eyes that the President was very moved by the tragedy, and that the death of 9 year-old Christina Taylor Green affected him most of all. It must be his greatest fear that someone would target his daughters, and I think the central message of the speech reflects that. The message was, can we live up to Christina Taylor Green's imagining of what this country can be? Can we be as good as she wants us to be? For a father I think that must be a very powerful feeling, to think about what your daughter's wishes for you are, what her wishes are for this country, especially if you can imagine her being taken from you before she got to grow old. The dreams of a child who's gone become in some ways a burden, or a task unmet. She wasn't able to see it through, but perhaps we can see it through for her. It's sort of a modern day "better angels of our nature." The best in us are the beautiful dreams of our children. It's a wonderful message in this time of sorrow, it is a way to heal us, a way to remind us of our own dreams and that we once believed them attainable and perhaps can again.
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