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Like I said in my thread last night, if he delivered a speech as great as Gettysburg, he could survive. He didn't do that but he delivered the most important, the most heart wrenching and the most passionate speech on race in America in over 45 years since Dr. King. He quelched my doubts. Do I still think that he could lose over this? Sure. But, now I am with him to the end wherever that may be whether it ends on January 20, June 3 or Nov 5.
This Time Magazine reaction says it all:
Obama Rises to the Occasion on Race and the Race
Courtesy CNN
Obama blows away the chattering class with Philadelphia speech.
Delivers historic remarks on race in address that was wide-ranging, personal, and (at times) passionate.
One key topic: his relationship with the Rev. Wright. Click above to watch excerpt.
Widespread praise from anchors/pundits/reporters for sweeping remarks drawing on American history and his own biracial upbringing to explain struggle of race in the country. Suggests his campaign can help unify a long-divided nation.
Now: what do real people, superdelegates, and talk radio show hosts think?
On racial struggles: “This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.”
On what campaign should be about: “We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism…. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction…. And nothing will change. At this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, ‘Not this time.’”
On Rev. Wright: “Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough…. But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man…. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
And/but ambiguity with this: “Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.” When/how does that thread get pulled?
And did the speech do anything to keep the right-wing Freak Show from using Wright/patriotism as issues in a general election?
Read full text of speech here.
Speech gets road-blocked cable news coverage. Permalink
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