President Barack Obama unexpectedly led the crowd at Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s funeral in a stirring rendition of “Amazing Grace” last Friday. At the end of his impassioned eulogy for Pinckney, one of the nine people shot and killed in the racist terrorist shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last week, Obama broke into the hymn.
To be a leader requires vulnerability, and authenticity. In this moment Obama shows himself perfectly in tune with his audience, with the wider audience in America, and his African-American roots. He is in one moment the leader of what is still one of the world’s most significant nations, and in the same moment a guy like the rest of us, finding solace in his faith, and perfectly understanding his role as the man who needs to bind his nation’s wounds.
Some will say it is mawkish. Mean-spirited people will say it is emotionally showy, or even unworthy of the dignity of a President. Some will say anything rather than warmly acknowledge that – at his best – Obama is a remarkable man.
We say “God bless the UNITED states of America”.
Well, This Is What I Think 
Well said Yolly. More of that is what we need in our leaders. Maybe then, the cynicism might subside, just a little.
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The stupid thing about most leaders is that they don’t seem to understand that this is also – not the reason to do it, but also – how to build a following. Unvarnished truthfulness.
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Unvarnished truthfulness. I like that. Permission to re-use, Captain?
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Aye aye Number One
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Since the sixties I have been overwhelmed by the ability of black Christians to practice genuine Christianity. Any white American Christian who has any shame should be put to shame by the amazing grace (small letters) shown by black Christians. It is a terrible thing that so many white Christians seem to have no shame, or are bent on proving the hypothesis that it is not the people who mistreat you that you hate the most, but the people you mistreat – and the more you mistreat them, the more you hate them.
The entire eulogy is a masterpiece, and the transcript should be widely published. I can’t say that it would change any minds, but it might well open some eyes.
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