“Wednesday night’s event seemed less about Mr. Obama’s presidency and more about the state of this country,” N.Y. Times reporter Adam Nagourney wrote a couple of hours ago. “His calls during the campaign for an end to brutal partisanship appeared to carry little weight these past two years in Washington. There is no way to know if his similar call on Wednesday, under tragic circumstances, will have more traction.”

“If I had one wish

One dream I knew would come true

I’d want to speak to all the people of the world

I’d get up there, I’d get up there on that platform

First I’d sing a song or two you know I would

Then I’ll tell you what I’d do

I’d talk to the people and I’d say

‘It’s a rough rough world, it’s a tough tough world

Well, you know

And things don’t always, things don’t always go the way we plan

But there’s one thing, one thing we all have in common

And it’s something everyone can understand

All over the world sing along

“‘I just want you to hurt like I do

I just want you to hurt like I do

I just want you to hurt like I do

Honest I do, honest I do, honest I do'”