Tim Russert's Funeral: Unity

Aspects of Tim Russert's funeral yesterday were surreal.

Was it a funeral or a peace summit?

It's certainly being covered as much more than a funeral. It was a transcendent event, including miracles.

From the New York Times:

In death, Tim Russert did on Wednesday what no living journalist has accomplished this campaign season: he got Barack Obama and John McCain to sit together and talk, quietly.

Specifically, it was Mr. Russert’s son, Luke, 22, who got the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees together. He requested that they sit next to each other at his father’s funeral at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. Then, in remarks from the pulpit, he exhorted them and other politicians to “engage in spirited debate but disavow the low tactics that distract Americans from the most important issues facing our country.” At the end of the service, the two candidates embraced.

“Five months from now,” Luke Russert said a few hours later, “I wanted them to remember that this occasion brought them together.”

Wow.

That's surreal -- Obama and McCain embracing.

It was a nice moment, probably one brief shining moment.

I don't know if it was sincere. I hope it wasn't a self-serving stunt. In any event, I suspect that may be the last of such moments for this election year.

Still, it was kind of the candidates to honor Tim Russert and show respect for his son Luke by fulfilling his request for them to sit together at the funeral.

While that moment occurred at a private gathering, Tim Russert, who died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, was honored later at a memorial service at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Acts that felt like an enormously special edition of the program he moderated, “Meet the Press.”

Televised live on MSNBC beginning at 4 p.m., the 90-minute memorial featured a collection of politicians, journalists and news executives who could not otherwise be found under the same roof.

I saw a bit of that service, but not much.

The Times emphasizes how Russert's death brought together opponents and competitors and, frankly, enemies. Brian Williams did the same thing on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News.

It's as though the services were religious experiences, beyond the funeral Mass and religious rituals. They're depicted as almost Biblical in nature -- lions and lambs laying down.

I would hope that honoring Russert was the point of attending the services and that the politicians and journalists would put aside their egos for a few hours as they recognized the loss and celebrated the life of a very special man.

That's not miraculous. It's the decent thing to do.

Perhaps it's noteworthy because so many politicians and journalists don't always do the decent thing. I don't know.

...Those who spoke at the afternoon service — including Mario M. Cuomo, the former governor of New York who once employed Mr. Russert as his counselor, and the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — labored at times to tell stories that they and others had not shared previously in the endless loop of cable coverage that followed Mr. Russert’s death at 58.

But the final appearance was one that was unbilled in the program and known, in advance, to only a few: a special acoustic performance by Bruce Springsteen, a hero to Mr. Russert and a friend as well. He was shown via satellite from Cologne, Germany, where he is on tour, on a large screen that suddenly descended from between the center’s shimmering chandeliers.

The song he played was “Thunder Road.” It elicited some sobs in the darkened theater, including for the lines, “Climb in back, heaven’s waiting on down the tracks.”

Again... Wow.

So many have said how down-to-earth Russert was and how he never forgot his working class roots. I believe them.

So many have said he was deeply religious and devoted to his family and friends. I believe them.

Clearly, Russert was deeply loved. It makes sense that people would want to honor him, to show their love and respect.

But I couldn't help but think of how many people are deeply religious and devoted to their family and friends, hardworking and caring. There are so many good, loving, and deeply loved people.

There's no live televised memorial services from the Kennedy Center for them; no performances by Bruce Springsteen, via satellite, for them.

I'm not suggesting that it was wrong to honor Russert with great fanfare.

I'm suggesting that we remember that the deaths of the less powerful and the less well known and the less celebrated are no less significant to their grieving family and friends.

Most importantly, the lives and deaths of the not as rich and not as famous and not as powerful are no less significant in the eyes of God.