President Obama sings "Amazing Grace."(Photo: David Goldman, AP)
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Long regarded as a great speaker, President Obama will now be remembered for his singing -- specifically, "Amazing Grace."
Obama's rendition of the 18th Century spiritual -- a coda to his moving eulogy Friday on the Charleston church massacre -- lit up social media this weekend, with some comparing the moment to John Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" and Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall."
The themes of "Amazing Grace" --
"how sweet the sound/that saved a wretch like me/I once was lost/but now am found/was blind, but now, I see" -- permeated Obama's remarks about the taking of nine lives during a Wednesday night Bible study.
The president used the word "grace" 35 times in his eulogy to describe various responses to the killings, including the forgiveness the families expressed to the accused killer, the coming together of the Charleston community, and calls by South Carolina lawmakers to remove the Confederate battle flag from its State House grounds.
The word "blind" or a variation appeared eight times in the text as Obama argued that killings opened Americans' eyes to a litany of ongoing social changes, from the scourge of gun violence to the minefield of race relations.
"As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us," Obama said. "For he has allowed us to see where we've been blind -- He has given us the chance, where we've been lost, to find our best selves."
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