Another's impression of the Romney-Obama lunch

Peggy Noonan writes at the Wall Street Journal:

The president's inviting Mitt Romney for lunch is a small thing but a brilliant move. It makes Mr. Obama look big, gracious. It implies the weakened, battered former GOP nominee is the leader of the Republican Party—and if the other party has to have a leader, the weakened, battered one is the one you want. 

There were enough gaffes during the campaign, did Romney simply feel compelled to commit one more?