Faced with his pastor’s (Jeremiah Wright) “inflammatory remarks,” Barack Obama on Tuesday in Philadelphia condemned the remarks, but argued that they should be understood in a historical context of black anger. Obama urged the nation to move past “a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.” He spoke in a formal auditorium, flanked by eight American flags, before a racially mixed, invitation-only audience of about 200 elected officials and community leaders.
Obama’s delivery and demeanor was utterly presidential — projecting intellect, trust, strength and leadership. Sen. Obama was honest, bluntly critical of himself, his black community, whites and America at large.
No American in recent history, other than Martin Luther King, not even the gifted “Gipper,” “The Prince of Darkness,”… Ronald “Nyangau” Reagan could have crafted and delivered a “State of Race” speech like Obama did today.
John Robin Baitz of The Huffington post puts it best: “If there was any doubt about what we have missed in the anti-intellectual, ruthlessly incurious Bush years, and even the slippery Clinton ones (the years of “what is is”), those doubts were laid to rest by Barack Obama’s magisterial speech today. A speech in which he distanced himself from a flawed father figure, Reverend Wright, and did so with almost Shakespearean dignity and honor.”
Tears flow down the face of Marty Nesbit as Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois, speaks in Philadelphia about race.[Click Pic For Larger Image]
This speech was a polar opposite of Mitt “The Flip-Flopper” Romney’s “Mormonism” speech, which he was forced to give to dissuade “Christian Fears” that Mormonism is a cult and not a religion.
But will the “Knucklehead,” lunch-bucket and often semi-illiterate “Talk-Radio Educated” white voter, a.k.a “The Working Class” get the meat of it?
To the college educated liberals — this was a “meat and potato” speech, into which they can sink their teeth — while hoping that the MONSTER of ARKANSAS via NEW YORK, in association with the right-wing “ReTHUGliMAGGOTS,” do not derail Obama’s campaign.
On the right, bigots at Fox News led by Fascist Sean Hannity are in a feeding frenzy, nit-picking Obama’s speech while “refereeing” the issue of Race — with little or zero moral authority. Sean Hannity calling anyone a racist is like an African King-Cobra snake spitting it’s deadly venom at you while trying convince you that it is “Fruit Smack” or “Kool-Aid.” LOL!
Barack Obama Speaks in Philadelphia
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Here is the full text of the speech | BarackObama.com
SOME POSTIVE REACTIONS
From NBC’s Mark Murray: The reviews from political analysts and liberal bloggers are mostly positive. Here’s a sample of their reviews and/or smart takes…
The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder: “I do think that Obama’s speech was a marvel of contemporary political rhetoric. Politically, analytically and emotively, it hit many high notes. His acknowledgment of white working class resentments (busing) and about the perception that there’s been no racial progress, his willingness to stick by his friends, his grasp of history, his sense that our views of race are cramped and caricatured… all of that is something that even those who disagree with the substance of his speech, can, I think, appreciate.”
The Politico’s Ben Smith: A smart colleague notes that this speech is the polar opposite of this year’s other big speech on faith, in which Mitt Romney went to Texas to talk about Mormonism, but made just one reference to his Mormon faith. Obama mentions Wright by name 14 times.
TPM’s David Kurtz: “It is remarkable for its nuance, for its long view of history, and for its decency. I am not sure, on first take, how effective it is politically. Your thoughts? Late Update: The text is one thing. Delivery is another. And Obama doesn’t seem to have his A game today.”
TPM’s Josh Marshall: “I think I have to dissent from David’s view that Obama didn’t bring his A-game to the speech this morning. I was only able to listen/watch out of the corner of my eye because I was on deadline for something else. But my sense was that the tempo and tenor was suited to the occasion. The kind of stirring delivery he’s made a trademark of in his victory celebrations would not have been appropriate for the moment.”
The pro-Obama Andrew Sullivan: “Alas, I cannot give a more considered response right now as I have to get on the road. But I do want to say that this searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching, loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian speech is the most honest speech on race in America in my adult lifetime. It is a speech we have all been waiting for for a generation. Its ability to embrace both the legitimate fears and resentments of whites and the understandable anger and dashed hopes of many blacks was, in my view, unique in recent American history… I have never felt more convinced that this man’s candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity.”
The pro-Clinton Taylor Marsh: “Senator Obama gave a speech today that is larger than politics, but it in no way ends his political challenges. The national wound of race Barack didn’t want to touch is now reopened nationally and in the spotlight again. While his campaign wants to move on, the country will not, because everyone will be talking about race, through the invitation of Obama’s speech today.”
Scout Finch from DailyKos (which is mostly pro-Obama): “This speech is amazingly honest and will hopefully spark a long overdue discussion on race in America. We’ll see if it is enough to blunt to criticism of his relationship with Reverend Wright. I think he’s done a spectacular job thus far of denouncing specific remarks by Reverend Wright, while still standing steadfastly by him and his community.”
Here’s the take from CBN’s David Brody: “We won’t know for awhile how voters view Barack Obama’s speech today on race relations but The Brody File saw it as a HUGE positive for Obama and a successful turning point for the future of his campaign.”
Hotline On Call’s Jennifer Skalka: “Obama gave an eloquent speech today that will do much to quiet the increasingly polarizing debate about race in the Democratic contest. But more importantly, and more tellingly, he gave a deeply personal talk about his race, about his experience as a biracial American. And voters needed to hear it. Not because his biography is, in and of itself, the answer for these confusing times, but because, perhaps, only a person of his experience can dare all of us to be our better selves.”
Comedian Jon Stewart’s Take..
Watching Obama
Cartoon: Courtesy Gary Varvel
REFERENCES:
1. Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage — The New York Times: What is evident is that Barack Obama not only cleared the air over a particular controversy — he raised the discussion of race and religion to a higher plane.
2. Obama’s Road Map on Race — Eugene Robinson, Washington Post
3. Political Satire: Kazakhstan’s President Seeks Re-Election as Only Name on Ballot, Citing the ‘Hillary Michigan Position’
4. Obama speaks out on US ‘racial stalemate’ - BBC NEWS
Popularity: 33% [?]
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March 21st, 2008 at 12:33 am
E.J. Dionne on Obama’s Speech
QUOTE:
One black leader who was capable of getting very angry indeed is the one now being invoked against Wright. His name was Martin Luther King Jr.
An important book on King’s rhetoric by Barnard College professor Jonathan Rieder, due out next month, offers a more complex view of King than the sanitized version that is so popular, especially among conservative commentators. In “The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me,” Rieder — an admirer of King — notes that the civil rights icon was “not just a crossover artist but a code switcher who switched in and out of idioms as he moved between black and white audiences.”
Listen to what King said about the Vietnam War at his own Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Feb. 4, 1968: “God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I’m going to continue to say it. And we won’t stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place.” King then predicted this response from the Almighty: “And if you don’t stop your reckless course, I’ll rise up and break the backbone of your power.”
If today’s technology had existed then, I would imagine the media playing quotations of that sort over and over. Right-wing commentators would use the material to argue that King was anti-American and to discredit his call for racial and class justice. King certainly angered a lot of people at the time.
…..read more
March 21st, 2008 at 12:34 am
Bill Clinton - A Friend Of Jeremiah Wright?
Clinton and Pastor Wright at a White House Function
Click on pic for larger image
One comment at Politico.com read:
QUOTE: One, this is a funny irony. But two, let’s face reality: Wright is not some demonic figure. He has done much good in his life, and people of all races would find most of his preachings to be very inspiring, uplifting, and non-controversial. His only “sin” was criticizing America; granted, in many respects, he went way overboard. But he represents the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the US. Some people have this attitude that any criticism of our country is a blashphemy, when criticism is very much a part of the American value system.
…Read More Form The Huffington Post: Bill Clinton And Jeremiah Wright Photo Uncovered | From The New York Times — The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and President Bill Clinton at a prayer breakfast at the White House in September 1998.