Remembering Richard Holbrooke

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke for many when she said on Monday that she had never so admired, so depended on and so cared for someone who drove her so crazy so often.

Richard, like each of us, was a package of complicated, not always harmonious, qualities. But in his case, the combination allowed him to epitomize the very best of what a single American can do to improve a dangerous world. The obituaries are filled with words not always associated with eulogies: brash, aggressive, unyielding, exhausting. But put those together with effective, pragmatic, purpose-driven, indefatigable and idealistic, and they’re redolent of our national character.