In contrast were the actions of the people of Charleston, especially the families of the slain. In their grief, they responded during the accused murderer’s bail hearing with grace and forgiveness. They are ordinary people touched by loss beyond comprehension. Yet sustained by their faith, determined to be instruments of reconciliation, they moved the nation.

Then in a podcast with a comedian released this week, Mr. Obama slandered America, claiming that discrimination is “still part of our DNA.” What made headlines was the president’s language: “Racism, we are not cured of it,” he said. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public.” Conservative writer Deneen Borelli was correct when on Fox News she called the comments “a grand distraction” that is “further dividing our country.”

Mr. Obama has lost—at least temporarily and perhaps permanently—the ability to describe what we should aspire to as a nation. Rather than appealing to the better angels of our nature, the president employs ad hominem attacks against those who disagree with him, complains about the failure of his political agenda, and suggests that America has an almost genetic inclination toward racism.