The good news: With this the Boomer era is officially over, making today a wonderful day. The bad news: America’s diplomatic brain trust thought last week’s glaring snub of the solidarity march in Paris would best be resolved by dusting off an old hippie to play one of his sappiest tunes. Actually, it was probably Kerry himself who championed this idea and the brain trust was simply too timid to tell him no. There’s no way the Secretary of State would endure a photo op this surreally goofy if he wasn’t convinced it was brilliant.

From now on we should have James Taylor play after every terrorist atrocity. Meanwhile on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CuffyMeh/status/556083917141188608

Meanwhile, on Air Force One . . . pic.twitter.com/dQ7qAygAXQ

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) January 16, 2015

https://twitter.com/AndrewStilesUSA/status/556100710409207809

Cuffy Meigs improvises some new lyrics for the occasion: “Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, all you got to do is call / And I’ll be there sometime next week maybe”. I’ve gone back and forth this morning trying to decide whether it’s the concept here that was doomed to fail or merely the choice of singer to execute it. Diplomats typically don’t require live musical accompaniment to express their admiration for a close ally, but if you’re going to go that route, at least avoid picking a singer — and a song — who doesn’t seem to embody the worst stereotypes about you. John Kerry bringing out an early 70s star to warble “You’ve Got a Friend” is like Bush bringing out Toby Keith to do that “boot in your ass” song at a presser with Tony Blair. Show some self-awareness for cripes sake.

I haven’t seen Kerry this emotional about an ally since North Vietnam. Exit question: Any readers in France have a sense of how this is playing there? I’m morbidly curious.