At George H.W. Bush's funeral, politics was put aside for respect and human emotion

Los Angeles Times

"The memorial of 41st president George H.W. Bush on Wednesday elicited myriad interpretations from a media and public searching for deeper meaning rooted in less turbulent times," says Lorraine Ali. "The national longing for order and decisive leadership was as much a part of the funeral as the long motorcade accompanying the presidential hearse through the streets of the capital, or the Washington National Cathedral choir that sang hymns during the service bathed in the light of the church’s stained-glass windows. No matter one’s political leanings or their feelings toward either Bush presidency, the service’s mix of centuries-old White House tradition, religious ritual and a son’s raw grief over his father’s death momentarily suspended the acrimony we’ve all come to expect from anything out of Washington and replaced it with a show of mutual respect for a family who’d lost their patriarch." ALSO: Five most memorable moments, including Obama's first encounter with Trump since Inauguration Day.