Let’s take a step back from the daily grief and grind of national politics and ask two broader questions: Who (if anyone) in national political life these days offers an upbeat, aspirational, unifying message, free of anger and rancor? And what is that message — or, if it hasn’t been evident, then what should that message be?

The question arises because that brand of politics seems in exceedingly short supply. For those of us on the Right, who grew up with the politics of Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp, or those a bit older on the Left who were motivated by Hubert Humphrey, appeals to “better angels” were the essence of motivational politics. Reagan’s “city on a hill” was a trope but heartfelt and welcoming, and he called on us to “dream heroic dreams.”