What Obama first represented as a half-white, half-black man of a new generation, with the middle name Hussein and all the rest, seemed to have actually arrived in America — that guy America voted for in 2008 seemed to suddenly (and to a lot of his supporters, finally) show up. So did the country they voted for.

And Obama’s voice broke through in a way that it hasn’t, maybe, since the 2004 keynote address that introduced him to America. A week that started with the media obsessing over one charged word he said ended with the country glued to his whole 25-minute eulogy in South Carolina, reverberating and replaying on the news, on iPhones and on YouTube all through the night and weekend…

Even inside the White House, the rush of change is almost overwhelming.

“The country is emerging in a way that is interesting and different—and we’re all taking it all in,” said a senior White House aide. “His voice and his role in a lot of these issues were important for him personally, and for his presidency.”