In a test of his candidacy, Obama makes sweeping speech on race

[Life Long Dem]

By Jeff Zeleny Published: March 18, 2008

PHILADELPHIA: Senator Barack Obama renewed his objection to the controversial statements delivered by the longtime pastor of his Chicago church, but declared in a speech here Tuesday that it was time for America to "move beyond some of our old racial wounds."

"It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years," Obama said. "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."

In an address at the National Constitution Center, a building steeped in the nation's historic symbolism, Obama delivered a sweeping assessment of race in America. It was the most extensive speech of his presidential campaign devoted to race and unity, a moment his advisers conceded presented one of the biggest tests of his candidacy.

For nearly a week, Obama has struggled to distance himself from a series of controversial statements by his former pastor, the Reverend. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who characterized the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous. Obama concluded over the weekend that he had failed to resolve the questions, aides said, and told advisers he wanted to address the firestorm in a speech.

In his address here, delivered in an auditorium before a small audience, Obama disavowed the remarks by Wright as "not only wrong, but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity." But he did not wholly distance himself from his pastor or the church, Trinity United Church of Christ, on the South Side of Chicago.

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/18/america/18obama.php

[Life Long Dem]

1. Just heard on CNN, they are going to question Obama's candidacy over this being a test.

Well CNN we see the results of this testing all over the place now and as the healine says, it was sweeping!