n one of those indelible media moments that has marked the past 36 days, a nation exhausted, stunned, and rubbed raw by the election deadlock seemed soothed by two strong television performances last night.
Almost as if their widely mocked shortcomings had been fixed by the Wizard of Oz, Al Gore displayed humor and charm in his gracious concession and George W. Bush exhibited heft and purpose in a speech laden with themes of unity.
The ubiquitous and overworked network pundits, summoned for perhaps the last time in this endless election cycle, offered warm reviews. ''These two speeches will be remembered,'' historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told NBC's Tom Brokaw. The country has been ''well served.''
Setting the tone of the evening one hour before Bush spoke, Gore seemed to completely charm even the more hard-edged pundits.
''This was a perfect tone,'' said NBC's Tim Russert. ''That was personal and poignant and credible.'' ABC's usually cantankerous Sam Donaldson said simply: ''I don't think I've ever heard a more gracious concession speech.''
If there was a subtle downside to the Gore reviews, it was the sense that the personable, relaxed vice president who emerged tonight was not more evident on the stump.
On WBZ-TV (Channel 4), which interrupted its Children's Hospital telethon for Gore's speech, local analyst Tobe Berkovitz said, ''the Al Gore we saw tonight is someone you would have wanted in your living room for four years.''
Bush's remarks also drew high marks for what presidential historian David McCullough called the enduring American themes of ''unity, reconciliation, opportunity, and progress.'' But the commentators also focused on the obstacles he faced in the aftermath of a bitterly polarizing election.
''I thought it was a very good speech,'' ventured CBS's Bob Schieffer, adding that Bush ''is really going to have to reach out.'' ABC anchor Peter Jennings offered that the president's biggest battles might come from ''the Republicans of the conservative wing of the party.''
And when CNN's Larry King asked how long this moment of rapprochement could last, Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute joked, ''we got at least a week, Larry.''
In several cases, last night's TV chatter verged on a bad case of premature punditry. Moments after Gore's speech, Russert dubbed him his party's ''front-runner in 2004 if he chooses to run.'' And on King's show, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona speculated whether New York's newly elected Democratic senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, would give the outgoing vice president a battle for the party leadership.
Still the purposeful theme of harmony struck by both candidates was the overarching message and perhaps something of a surprise. Less than an hour before Gore spoke, CNN's usually astute analyst Bill Schneider suggested that he might not be able to formally concede. ''He doesn't believe he lost the election,'' said Schneider. ''He doesn't want to say he lost.''
And in the hours leading up to last night's speeches, the news media were still echoing with the divisive Florida battle cries that had dominated post-election coverage.
While The New York Times's Maureen Dowd launched a scathing assault on the Supreme Court yesterday, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page was cheering its verdict. On CNN's ''Crossfire'' conservative Robert Novak played a clip of Jesse Jackson saying ''the election was essentially taken and stolen'' before assailing Jackson as a ''pyromaniac with words.'' Meanwhile his sparring partner from the left, Bill Press, angrily attacked the high court, accusing it of cynically running out the clock on Gore's hopes. Online chat rooms filled up with dueling insults like ''daddy's pals got junior the presidency'' and ''Gore is a talented inventor. He invented votes in Florida.''
In many ways, Gore's and Bush's soothing words last night ended a long, strange trip for the media. It began with the election night exit poll fiasco in Florida that spawned a series of internal network investigations as well as proposed congressional hearings. That was followed by much agitated and erroneous handwringing from the pundit class that the nation couldn't endure several weeks of uncertainty. Every twist and turn in the bizarre recount drama seemed to catch journalists by surprise, including the decisive Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday night that had on-air reporters and anchors scrambling and sputtering to make sense of it.
In a strange way, however, they can take solace in the prophetic words uttered in the early evening hours on election night, Nov. 7. The race looks ''jar-lid tight,'' said CBS anchor Dan Rather. ''Pull up a chair,'' added CNN's Jeff Greenfield. ''It's an election like we haven't seen in decades.''
