The only thing I did not like about the speech

[Ugnmoose]

In general I thought it was a very good speech. I doubt that it will change many minds. What it will do is help to get the campaign some positive spin with the MSM. This is politicking 101 of damage control. The one major flaw in the whole speech came when Obama directly contradicted his previous statement that he was not in church when the good Rev's inflamatory remarks were made. This is a major flip flop and one on which I am sure he will be called to account for later on. I personally thought that it was idiotic of him to have made the denial in the first place, because it would be too easy to prove that he was in the church when these statements were made. This was an amateurish mistake as it was for the campaign not to have recognized this issue and diffused it a long time ago instead of pretending that it did not exist. Time will only tell whether it overshadows the message. I hope not, because the matter of race does not belong in any political campaign. It is issues that matter and I sincerely wish we could get back to the examination and evaluation of each candidates qualifications and policies.

[democrattotheend]

1. He did not lie or contradict

What he said on Friday was that he was not present for the particular sermons in question. He never said that he had NEVER heard his pastor say anything controversial. I have been trying to point it out for days...I am glad he finally made that distinction today.

[EFerrari]

4. That's right. n/t

[LSparkle]

6. Amen! He KNEW Wright was controversial, just not THIS controversial

I can forgive him for not being familiar with every single sermon the man gave.

[LSparkle]

8. Delete -- dupe

[Speck Tater]

2. Not true.

He did not say he was in church when THOSE SPECIFIC remarks were made. He said he has been in the church on occasion when he heard SOME unspecified divisive remarks made.

[Connie_Corleone]

3. He didn't contradict himself.

There's a difference between saying something controversial and saying something inflammatory. Obama said the same thing in the interview he gave on Olbermann's show Friday.

[Ugnmoose]

7. You're parsing

The implications of his words were clear.

[keep_it_real]

5. He said he was in church when controversial remarks were made

Remarks can be controversial without being inflammatory. The Rev was not always preaching inflammatoraly - his 911 remarks were a special case.