Partisan political debate will wait just a bit longer

dallas tribute

I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to process the gravity of the events that took place last week.

Which means that I’m not yet ready to rejoin the political debate.

The “Main Event,” if you want to call it that, was the shooting in Dallas that killed five police officers, stunned a great American city and the nation and has — for the most part — brought many Americans together in the search for national healing.

The gunman is dead as the result of a totally justifiable use of force by the Dallas Police Department. Demonstrators in two other cities — where two young black men died in police-related shootings — have continued to march.

They’re all connected.

In precisely one week, Republicans will gather in Cleveland to nominate their presidential candidate. It’s likely going to be Donald J. Trump. I’ll have plenty to say about him and about his certain Democratic Party foe, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But as this week begins, I intend to focus instead on the interfaith memorial service set for Tuesday in Dallas. There will be some luminaries present to pay tribute to the fallen men.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are two of them. A third one is former President George W. Bush.

I haven’t heard as of this very moment whether either Clinton or Trump will attend. Wouldn’t it be a remarkable sight to see the two nominees sitting side by side, heads bowed in prayer, perhaps holding hands in the spirit of unity?

I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

We’ll get the political stuff fired up in due course.

For now, though, let’s simply honor the men who died while upholding their solemn oath to protect and serve their community.