The Perfect Paragraph

Occasionally, there comes the perfect paragraph, where somebody manages to say in a couple dozen perfectly chosen words what you would ramble over several pages and still not explain as well. (Rarely, you may write a perfect paragraph of your own, and what a wonderful feeling that is.)

I give you Frank Rich, of the New York Times.

The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged" his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action.
(No link provided because the NYT is weird about archiving.)

Anyway, it is paragraphs like this that will find their way into 8th grade history books in the distant future, when Hurricane Katrina seems a much smaller event in the grand scheme of things, like the explosion of the USS Maine for us today, or Mrs. O'Leary's cow. It will explain for posterity what we recognized at this moment to our future generations.

What we learned... well, we will have to wait for the next perfect paragraph for that.