victims -- all the victims of the true son tragedy. welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, columnist for the "wall street journal" peggy noonan. pat buchanan still with us from washington along with wiley geist and harold ford, junior, still at the table. >> mika, i really thought the speech last night was the president at his best. >> it's what he does. >> well, sometimes not. this is a president who has struggled from time to time to show compassion, to come across as more than a law professor. mark halperin wondered yesterday whether he would be the president of the united states or a law professor last night. and certainly seemed to me he was, as pat buchanan said, sbod they stepped into the role very well as consoler in chief. >> i think he did a great job. it was an appropriate moment for him to do what he does well.