At a press conference following a basketball game not long after President Bush died a reporter asked Coach Mike Krzyzewski how he’d come to know Bush and Krzyzewski explained that, years ago, after President George H. W. Bush’s 3-year-old daughter died of leukemia, Bush had set up a Cancer Foundation – and that’s how he met Bush. Helping his foundation.

The same day, I also read a thick stack of newspaper stories filled with politicians praising former President Bush – and the clichés flowed like quicksilver.

It was a surprise – the basketball coach sounded sincere while politicians sounded like cardboard figures. But then, when you mull it over, the pieces fit.