Obama's finest hour

Anyone still unconvinced that Obama is really an American committed to his nation’s values, rather than an impostor who doesn’t pledge allegiance to his critics’ satisfaction, should probably surrender to the asylum.

Obama’s speech, an artful balance of realism and idealism, was both a Judeo-Christian epistle, conceding the moral necessity of war, and a meditation on American exceptionalism. He was, in other words, the unapologetic president of the United States and not some errant global villager seeking affirmation.

The speech was a signal moment in the evolution and maturation of Obama from ambivalent aspirant to reluctant leader.