Trump finally became president last night

I am far from the first to say this (CNN's Van Jones said it last night within an hour of Trump's speech), but add me to the list who finally saw something presidential in Donald Trump last night.

Van Jones was specifically calling out the moment that President Trump honored a Navy SEAL widow. Carry Owens was the woman you saw receive the run-on applause as she continued to cry and look upwards, hands clasped to her chest, a chest that contains a broken heart. Her husband was Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens. Owens was killed in Yemen. Trump said, "Ryan died as he lived, a warrior, and a hero, battling terrorism and securing our nation." The applause for his widow went on for 2 minutes and 11 seconds and seeing her was seeing the very face of loss and sacrifice and made sense of even misguided and poorly executed travel bans.

Seeing her face was seeing the very emotion that led to the election of Donald Trump. "Ryan is looking down right now. You know that. And I think he's very happy, because you just broke a record," Trump joked about the time length of the applause she received. He spoke those words directly to her, gently and respectfully. Then he said, "For as the Bible teaches us, there is no greater act of love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Ryan laid down his life for his friends, for his country, and for our freedom -- we will never forget him."

Even if the words of a speechwriter, he delivered them like a leader I hope he remains. I did not vote for Trump. I have seen nothing but character flaws in this man, time and time again. Last night however, his entire speech was done in a manner that seemed to be from the heart. As I said after the election, we have to give him a chance. With so many stumbles out of the gate, that has been very hard to do. It was refreshing to read that Trump gave himself only a C when it came to explaining his moves to the American public. Manfully conceded, Donald.

Last night was his inauguration as far as I'm concerned. It was the very first time he seemed to truly take on the role of president. Does he need to stick only to scripts and swear off ad-libbing? Yes, sorely. He needs to break himself of his Twitter addiction as well. If he can keep doing what he did last night in addressing Congress, he will continue to look the part. Well done, Mr. President.

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