The Great Election Night Speech in New Hampshire that Nobody Saw

Well, I saw it Tuesday night, and found it moving and inspiring. The Washington Post notes:

Chances are you didn’t see John Kasich’s speech after he finished second in the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday night. The Ohio governor took the stage after brighter lights like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had already spoken. But, if you did miss it, you shouldn’t. It was the best speech of the night — an emotional call to action for a different kind of politics and a rejection of the Trumpian movement that has seized the Republican Party over these last eight months all rolled into one.

“Just maybe we are turning the page on a dark part of American politics because tonight the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigning, and you made it happen,” Kasich said in the address’s opening moments.

Kasich told the audience that the campaign in New Hampshire had “changed” him, retelling a series of anecdotes about people he met while campaigning in the state. “The people of New Hampshire have taught me a lesson, and from this day forward, I am going to go slower, and spend my time listening, and healing, and helping, and bringing people together to fix our great nation,” Kasich said.

Like I said, this was not your average stump speech. It was Kasich in full joyous wonder mode after a finish in New Hampshire that breathed life into a campaign that few thought would escape the state.  And, in the room — and on television — it worked.

Others are also sitting up and taking notice:

The most long-lasting news of the night may well be the dramatic second-place finish by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Left for dead by the media and others long ago, he doggedly kept running his own race. Appearing at more than 100 town halls in New Hampshire, he stuck to his core message of economic revival. And, just as importantly, he stayed positive. “We never went negative because we have more good to sell,” Kasich said in his speech Tuesday night. In a political year notable for its anti-establishment rhetoric from both parties, Kasich offered a dramatic counternarrative: “Tonight the light overcame the darkness.” Kasich’s speech was as much spiritual as political. “We’re all made to help the healing of the world, if we would just slow down.”

Photo: Wikipedia