Are they having fun yet?

The funeral service for Coretta Scott King yesterday was an incredible gathering and tribute.

The President’s remarks (reading, flipping pages as he went) were graceful and well received, but then the Rev. Joseph Lowery stood right there and skewered him for WMD and Katrina, and President Jimmy Carter stood right in front of him and reminded the audience of how the Kings had to endure wire taps and other surveillance. Applause. (In between those two, Poppy George got his own laughs by observing that, as an Episcopalian, he had never seen anything like this — immediately reminding me of the “not being in touch” problems he had.)

Anyway, the 15,000 who came to honor Mrs. King were loving every bit of it. Then Bill and Hillary Clinton came to the podium to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. That must have hurt. And Bill Clinton was at his best, getting lots of love and laughs (and did it all without reading).

Oh, the humility of it all . . .


*Photo by Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times