Trump Makes a Hero, Navy Seal William 'Ryan' Owens, A Household Name

A lot can be said about President Trump's speech Tuesday night, in terms of content and rhetoric. There's certainly much to be said about policy—Will Trump endorsing tax credits have an effect on Congress's Obamacare plans? Will Republicans come around to actually endorsing paid family leave?—but in the end, that is unlikely to be what anyone remembers from this speech.

As per custom instituted by President Reagan, Trump highlighted the admirable efforts of a number of ordinary citizens who attended the speech. But the fact that Trump took such care to highlight the service of Navy Seal William "Ryan" Owens, who died last month in a counterterror operation in Yemen, stands out as the most emotional moment at any State of the Union in perhaps decades.

Owens's crying widow Carryn took in—and deserved—the sustained applause.

Some critics will complain that these contrived moments at State of the Union addresses are always manipulative. Perhaps there's something to that. That doesn't change the fact that the sacrifices of men like Ryan Owens—and the widows such as Carryn they leave behind—deserve to be remembered.

If that's all anyone remembers from Tuesday's speech, it will go down as one of the most rare events in American politics: A presidential policy address that was actually worth watching.