Changing the tone

It is almost a ritual for an incoming president to announce that he wants to change the tone in Washington, D.C., a town where partisanship gets in the way of the people’s business far too often. But few have made as impressive a start on this front as Barack Obama. After last week’s supper with conservative columnists, Obama held a dinner to honour John McCain last night. The President-elect’s speech, of which video after the jump, was a generous tribute to his former opponent.

Of course, Obama benefits politically from reaching out like this and there is a world of difference between warm words at a supper and genuine bi-partisan policy-making. But Obama does seem to be turning his back on the hyper-aggressive politics of the last 14 years in Washington.  That is a change to be welcomed.