While watching the inauguration last week, I wondered what President Obama said to Congressman Lewis when he stopped to hug him on his way to the podium. Well, now we know.
After absorbing the thudding roar from the Mall, Obama glanced to his right. He spotted there on the steps, a few feet away, John Lewis’s squat, bald, hatless–the eleven-term representative of Georgia’s fifth congressional district and the only one of the speakers at the March on Washington still among the living. Obama bent to embrace him.
“Congratulations, Mr. President,” Lewis whispered in his ear.
Obama smiled at the sound of that and said, “Thank you, John. I’ll need your prayers.”
“You’ll have them, Mr. President. That, and all my support.”
I just enjoyed reading this comment at the New Yorker, I think you will too. Fair warning it’s a two tissue alert.
Hat tip: Jane Kidd
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