The scene outside the White House tonight was jubilant, almost wild. Sweatshirt-clad undergraduates from GW and Catholic sang the National Anthem; Marines smoked cigars, leading cheers until their voices went hoarse; DCFD and Metropolitan Police stood with the students, gazing toward the gleaming columns with pride. There was no speaker to hold the crowd’s interest, no celebrity. But for over two hours, thousands streamed onto Pennsylvania Avenue, many running, to join strangers and neighbors, their fellow Americans.

Some raised fists, others prayed. One young man, a stoic 25 year-old named Justin Kirchmeyer, stood back by Lafayette Park, clad in fatigues. An ex-Marine, he served in Ramadi, Iraq. He drove into the city a few minutes before midnight; he felt drawn here. “When I came up, I had tears in my eyes,” he told me. “I have not seen this kind of patriotism since September 11.”

It was an American moment. One I’ll never forget.