I saw a lovely photograph - when President Obama was still in the White House - of President Obama bending down to allow a small black boy - who had been thrilled that the president was someone who resembled him in appearance, someone who looked a bit like him - to touch his hair.
Even bending down to permit an overjoyed child to touch his hair, Barack Obama exuded class, decency, dignity and a genuine love of life, and enhanced - rather than reduced or traduced - the dignity of his office by showing that it was both "of the people" and "for the people" and that by the words "the people", he genuinely meant all of the people of the United States, not just wealthy white males.