With the nation’s media focused, appropriately, on the passing of former first lady Nancy Reagan, the harsh theatrics of the GOP presidential campaign will fade for a few hours from the 24/7 coverage it had been receiving. Thank you, Mrs, Reagan, for this one last, great service.

My wonderful wife of 33 years sent me a direct message upon learning of the death of Mrs. Reagan: “She’s with her Ronnie.” I declined an opportunity to write about Nancy Reagan because I was only a junior staffer in her White House, a White House full of people much better positioned today and this week to offer commentary on her amazing life than me.