Obama: A More Perfect Union
Jeff Alworth
Responding to the growing outrage over racially-charged sermons of his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama today addressed the issue directly. 
The speech is too long to quote in full, but below are some excerpts. Obama began by painting a picture of race in America and his role in it, and then spoke about Wright:
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
Obama moved from rejection of these words to an explanation of why he stayed in Wright's church:
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
And then he discussed his personal connection to Wright, and why he didn't sever it like he might have done with a wayward aide:
Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years....
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
As he has done with other complex issues, Obama then began weaving the personal, the political, and the cultural together into a larger cloth:
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American....
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
Obama went on, describing the context of race as a universal issue, not one that affects only blacks:
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company.
As he brought the threads together, he cast Wright's shameful language in the larger context he had just finished describing:
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
And he concluded:
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election....
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
Discuss.
[Update: the entire speech is now on YouTube.]
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Mar 18, '08
A great speech! Even right wing commentator Scarborough said it was the most important speech on race since MLK. I think it will be well received by most Americans. Some on the right and on the left don't like all this reconciliation and healing talk. We have the choice for a political leader who has lived across the racial/ethnic divide and with it brings insights on both sides. I think the Clintonites have to like this speech (Taylor Marsh gave it a thumbs up.). It speaks well for progressive values and a vision of ethnic reconciliation the Democratic party seeks for the country.
I think that Obama simply spoke his truth and is going to let the chips fall where they will. Maybe the silver lining in the Rev. Wright flap is that it opens a door for us to talk about race and even walk through it to the other side.
Mar 18, '08
Limbaugh too was stumbling all over himself trying to prevent the far right from losing Obama's pastor as an issue. And even he admitted Obama's speech today was powerful (but then went off in his typical irrational manner to try to trash it).
I think the cons may sense the game it up.
Man, can Obama speak or what? It's going to be great to have a president who can use complete sentences again.
Mar 18, '08
This speech says a lot about Obama's intelligence and character. He could have taken a poll or listened to focus groups as Gore and Kerry did to their regret and compiled a bunch of words into a speech favorable to a theoretical majority. Instead, he crafted a speech that was honest, recognizing the realities of the nation we live in. The speech will be respected by all fair-minded people with a knowledge of this nation's history and who recognize the continuing need to face reality. I'm not among the starry-eyed Obama supporters who are inspired by his words. I have reservations about him, but he is the only candidate who can inspire a large segment of this nation away from divisiveness and toward some badly needed degree of comity.
Mar 18, '08
The speech was Lincoln-esque. Why do people find it so difficult to accept that the man is conveying the truth as he sees it? "This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected." Let the movement progress.
11:09 a.m.
Mar 18, '08
He's a different kind of politician, isn't he? He really doesn't seem to use the same playbook.
On NPR this morning, they did a report while he was in the middle of the speech and the woman reporting on it (sorry, I didn't catch who it was) called it one of the most important speeches on race in American history. She seemed a little awestruck in the moment.
Mar 18, '08
I pray that this part of Sen. Obama's speech sinks in!
"We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, 'Not this time.'"
Now that is change you can believe!
Mar 18, '08
It's a great speech No other candidate has to be the bridge between two very different Americas. Nobody else could begin to be.
I hope people see this for what it is. It shows courage. Honesty. And the determination to move forward taking everyone along.
11:19 a.m.
Mar 18, '08
Unlike many of his other speeches during this campaign which I found thin, this one is a show stopper.
As others have noted, saying something like "he has been like family to me" about Rev. Wright seems to be counter to the traditional playbook (push away controversy). It seems tailor-made for an attack commercial on Obama.
But the rest of the speech overcomes the 30-second sound bite world. It's a trump card of inspiration -- so often missing in politics. Bravo, Obama, bravo.
Mar 18, '08
This was absolutely and fundamentally the most amazing speech I've watched a politician give. I think it can bring home to all the very reason why courage and truth in your words is what makes them more than just words.
We have been living under a fog of lying politicians who will say and do anything to get elected for far too long. They also often use their possition of power and authority to flat out lie to us for the good of their own causes that are not in our best interest. But Obama today took this moment of uncomfortable focus on him and his judgement to courageously tell the truth and rise above all of the spin and craziness to focus on what really matters to us all.
Mar 18, '08
Charles Murray, conservative Columnist with the National Review, not an Obama supporter at all says this:
Charles Murray: "Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant -- rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols."
And Andrew Sullivan,columnist for Atlantic Monthly, and a conservative convert to Obama says this:
Andrew Sullivan: "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. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian."
Mar 18, '08
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer gets caught with a hooker.
The Republicans call for his impeachment.
Spitzer resigns within a week.
Bush engages the country in a criminal war in Iraq.
More than a million Iraqis are killed.
Almost 4,000 Americans are killed.
Tens of thousands are seriously injured.
Five years go by.
Obama/Clinton/McCain take impeachment off the table.
Bush and Cheney go free.
As Ralph Nader put it recently:
"The American people have no authority to challenge these governmental crimes, which are committed in their name. They are rendered defenseless except for elections, which the two party duopoly has rigged, commercialized, and trivialized. Even in this electoral arena, a collective vote of ouster of the incumbents does not bring public officials to justice - just to another position usually in the high paying corporate world."
Nader/Gonzalez demand that impeachment be put back on the table.
For impeachment of Bush/Cheney to be heard in this election year, it is imperative that Nader/Gonzalez get on state ballots all across this country.
Mar 18, '08
"We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words."
I have only heard a few (cherry-picked?) clips from Reverend Wright's repertoire. It is probably true, as Obama has acknowledged, that Wright has spoken words that the general public will have found offensive; however, we would do well to give some thought to his words and ask why he was moved to use them. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for those of us who are white to appreciate the indignities and pain that members of minorities have experienced, but if we take some incident in our own lives that caused us some embarrassment or other social discomfort and multiply it by 20, 50 or 100, then we might get a clue. One of the clips I saw, partially, on television appeared to show some sympathy and empathy for the Palestinians by Reverend Wright. The television station may have intended to scare its viewers into being hostile towards Wright, but his statement earned my respect. I hope he continues to counsel Obama on this and get him to do the right thing with regard to the Israel/Palestine problem.
Mar 18, '08
Obama is a Martin Luther King incarnate. If we of this generation are experiencing this phenomena....i can imagine the atmosphere when Martin Luther King was alive and bridging all gaps. They always say history repeats itself; and oohhh boy today history has been made. I know Bill Clinton is loving this guy (Obama).
Mar 18, '08
Obama could have let this rest and it might have faded away before the continuation of this nomination process. He would have likely still have won if he had left it alone.
However, today he showed that he has the courage to take a risk and turn a negative into a positive. He has addressed issues in this country that have been long overdue. He has proven that not only can he give a good "speech", but he is genuine and has the judgement to lead and inspire as the next president of our nation.
12:58 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Obama's speech was wonderful, something many "minority" groups and White people have wanted honest conversation about as soon as we were old enough to realize differences. The key, though, is to actually have the conversation here at home. We Oregonians need to look no further than our own backyard to realize there is much work to do in reconciling our communities. I firmly believe we missed a golden opportunity to be true, liberal leaders when conversations around Cesar Chavez Ave. came up; not around naming the street, but around why everyone felt so strongly on either side. There were calls to have those discussions, but it never transpired.
Jeff Alworth mentioned in a comment the other day that we need to have a conversation about race, but not until Obama is elected. I respectfully disagree.
It's important as we move forward locally and nationally, to ask people who want to represent us if they acknowledge this critical puzzle piece as part of the entire landscape of our community. All color races and the roles we play are vital and the conversation has sat idly by while "feel good" initiatives and symbolic gestures have been made. But let's get dirty folks. Let's air out all the stuff we say behind closed doors to flesh them out, and then, get over them. Who's with me?
1:10 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Jeff Alworth mentioned in a comment the other day that we need to have a conversation about race, but not until Obama is elected.
Karol, I don't think I said that. If I did, it was unintentional. I said, or meant to say, that so far America hasn't been able to have one, and that it might take the election of Obama. But seeing this speech, I'll grant you that even that comment may have been wrong: could be Obama just gave the first statement in that very discussion.
Let's air out all the stuff we say behind closed doors to flesh them out, and then, get over them. Who's with me?
Ladies first!
Mar 18, '08
I thought it was a great speech too, and it is a mark of Obama's character that he doesn't ditch people or positions to be politically correct or politically expedient. I thought so even early on in a debate in which Clinton and Obama were asked about their support of Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, an idea which proved to be very unpopular and from which Clinton immediately distanced herself and switched positions. Not so, Obama. I don't remember who suggested to me here that I, an independent since the '70s, switch to being Democratic for the time being in order to be able to vote in the Oregon primary. I have done so today with the purpose of voting for Obama and off-setting some Republican Democrat-for-the-day-in-order-to-vote-for-Clinton.
Mar 18, '08
re: "Obama is a Martin Luther King incarnate."
Most of you are too young to remember what MLK was about. Believe me, Obama is no MLK:
Martin Luther King: "Beyond Vietnam" Speech On the necessity for religious leaders to speak out boldly:
And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history.
It is the "need to maintain social stability for our investments, our "refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments" that governs our foreign policy, and makes the United States the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world today":
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just."
Dr. King explicitly links racism, materialism and militarism:
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
How can we best defend ourselves, according to Dr. King?
[O]ur greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.
These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born.
The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions.
With insightful prophecy, Dr. King predicts that our failure to change our ways will lead to countless further wars:
The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation.
They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa.
We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. So such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God.
Dr. King is not afraid to give a dire warning to the American people:
...A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
1:23 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Jeff, if I was wrong, I'm sorry. If you said the reverse, you know I'm with you. I don't have any scandalous revelations, but when I walk home from the bus, its ok to smile at me, people. I'm not going to grab your handbag.
How's that?
1:31 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Great speech, addresses directly some of the emerging criticisms (he's been in that parish for 20 years so he can't say he was not familiar with his pastor's views).
It is quite frustrating to me to watch the media spin on this, in two ways. First, is it a surprise to white America that there are black Americans who believe that AIDs is a plot, that there are racist elements at high levels in our government? Sadly, I expect it is. Second, let's compare and contrast Rev. Wright's incendiary statements with those made by mainstream, establishment religious leaders on the right, such as Falwell and Robertson, who suggested that Katrina and 9/11 were God's wrath for homosexuality.
But a small note of dissent: nice speech. One of the best public speakers we have in this country today, yes. Leaves Clinton and McCain in the dust? Yes. But Lincolnesque? Reincarnation of MLK? Not even close.
Better go listen to a few recordings of MLK or read the Gettysburg Address a few times.
Mar 18, '08
This speech was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It is thoughtful, provocative, heartfelt, and a clear testament to Obama's ability to think deeply about difficult issues not just in a political context, but in a societal context.
All that said, I question whether such a powerful speech will play well in today's 24/7 media environment. Very few people will see the entire speech. If snippets get played over and over out of context, such as Obama saying that he "cannot distance himself from Reverend Wright", the speech could be used against him. I hope that doesn't happen, but I'm not confident in our country's ability to absord complex and subtle arguments.
1:35 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
i am nearly in tears. not only was that the most "presidential" speech i've probably heard in my lifetime, it expressed the essence of what hope is in this year of change.
1:43 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Paul G, did you find a shirt for your girl? Got one for you if not...
1:44 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Karol, I'll think on it and offer something more serious.
Paul, I agree with the general thrust of your comment, but is it fair to compare Lincoln's most famous speech to the entirety of Obama's ouevre? I'm not a presidential scholar, but my recollection is that Lincoln himself rarely met that standard.
Mar 18, '08
I'm with you Karol. Great opportunity to try this without the defensiveness we usually run into. Ok so we're supposed to be doing this differently. Let's do it differently.
1:51 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Karol, what have you got?? I got a volunteer and a check if you got a shirt! Please email me at [email protected]
Jeff, "ouevre?" how academic of you. Have to say, I've been listening, and the last ten minutes are WAY STRONGER than the first 20. I'm a lot more impressed.
Still, he's not a preacher at heart, not like Martin, not like Jesse, not even like Mike H. He still is a little intellectual and a little cool.
Sure, it makes whites comfortable, but that's exactly what Shelby Steele (among others) discusses in today's WSJ.
Mar 18, '08
I note that the Oregonian's editors ran a hit piece today by that jerk Rich Lowry jumping all over Sen. Obama, joyfully braying that Barak can't deny knowing what the pastor had been saying. What a joy to see Barak stick a pin in that gasbag! Phssssst!
1:53 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Miles, No, I think the applause lines at the end will be replayed.
1) 50 years after BvBoard and we still haven't solved the problem.
2) Is there anger in the black community? Yes, not expressed around the water coolers in white america but in the barbershops and beauty parlors and churches of black america (I think this metaphor was lifted from my colleague Melissa Harris-Lacewell's book).
2:04 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Paul, I did email you! But that's OK. I have a "Got hope" t-shirt from the campaign, but my dear man put it in the dryer and now its too small for a grown woman who is not a Hooters employee to wear. It is a medium, and now a snug medium. I bet it would fit your daughter. You email me, I may be getting caught in your spam. [email protected]
2:06 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Sure, it makes whites comfortable, but that's exactly what Shelby Steele (among others) discusses in today's WSJ.
That was a rather condescending feint, my good Professor. (And even us non-Ivory types can use big words--plus, my proletariat cred remains intact--I misspelled it!)
I see your Shelby Steel and raise you a Don Wycliff.
Mar 18, '08
I agree with all those who said this was a great speech, but I also agree with Harry K. that Obama is no (or not yet a) Martin Luther King, Jr. On the other hand this nation may fall short on the qualities to fully appreciate the late Dr. King while Obama is about the limit they can handle.
2:17 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
Jeff, nice essay. We're hoping to bring in speakers next Fall for an elections series (current list of possibilities include Larry Summers on economic policy, Spencer Overton on voting rights, and i hope to add Melissa Lacewell-Harris on race, but perhaps Wycliff is a good option.)
Mar 18, '08
I'll add that for all the hype around Mitt Romney's religion speech and the pre-approved comparisons to Jack Kennedy, for Faith in America, this was the real thing. Romney pretty clearly implied that the only way to have democracy was for the citizenry to have religious faith, which was almost the antithesis of what Kennedy said to the Houston ministers.
Maybe electing a member of a black Christian church is a bigger deal than electing a member of the LDS. It's not really intuitive, since Mormonism is a 19th century restorationist development and the UCC is mainstream thread of Protestantism, but I think it bears out how charged with cultural implications the argument about religion really is.
FYI, OBAMA IS COMING TO OREGON FRIDAY. Does anyone at Blue Oregon have the details?
Mar 18, '08
A very eloquent and moving speech that said many things that need saying, especially the part about blacks and Hispanics being made scapegoats for the failures and abuses of our economic system. Whether it will help or hurt Obama in the long run I can't say.
Mar 18, '08
"The American people have no authority to challenge these governmental crimes, which are committed in their name."
Too true. So how about a constitutional amendment providing for the recall of presidents? It shouldn't be an easy thing, of course, but in extreme cases like the present one, where a president has committed multiple impeachable offenses and Congress refuses to do its duty, recall would offer a remedy. Provisions for the recall of governors were written into state constitutions to cover the same eventuality; if states are able to do it, why not the nation as a whole?
4:01 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
The Wycliff essay is interesting, but problematic in only focusing on the need for capacity for self-criticism among black people and ignoring the related need for self-criticism among white people.
One of the strengths of Obama's speech is that he talks about both the reality of persistent white racism and the reality of class inequality affecting whites. Since one key cultural function of race in U.S. culture has been to obscure class inequality this is difficult.
Obama's approach is clever. By beginning with the shared fact of resentment, though it takes different forms with different sources, and arguing that they are all understandable, he creates a psychological space in which reflection on the self-destructiveness and fruitless mutual destructiveness of resentment can become a common ground. How easy it is to go on from there is less clear, but even creating a space in which to talk about race and class without people feeling they're being suffocated by accusations of inherent moral inferiority of one sort or another is an achievement of sorts.
<hr/>Endorsement by Charles Murray is not a good sign. The man is an intellectually dishonest pigdog, not to put too fine a point on it.
<hr/>Comparisons to Martin Luther King, Jr. are not helpful IMO. One reason is King's false apotheosis in the potted images on which I suspect Aniel has been raised: MLK Day portrayals of King leading black people in their struggle for freedom with white America essentially standing on the sidelines cheering him/them on. Besides dodging the question of who and what exactly the struggle was against, the image inverts the relationship between the man and the movement, in a way I believe King himself would reject.
Martin Luther King was created by the Civil Rights Movement, not the other way around, even if he became its most powerful voice. And King was a black leader of black people with white allies for black freedom from rigidly structured legal oppression, while Obama is trying to be something quite different.
<hr/>What Obama is trying to do in this speech does impress me, however. It gives me more confidence that his calls for unity are not just calls for pabulum nostrums and papering things over, that in reaching out he will not reach so far that he falls out of the boat, that he really may challenge us all in good way that is an opportunity we should seize.
It will be interesting to see if he can widen the discussion to include race beyond the black-white dyad, though certainly he has to start there given what he's responding to.
Karol, I want to respond to you in a separate post, but thanks for taking up the challenge he's posing.
Mar 18, '08
Comparisons to Martin Luther King, Jr. are not helpful IMO.
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke with a level of candor that Obama doesn't dare use if he wants to be elected president, and it is wise on his part that he not do so because he would create a divisiveness he is trying to at least reduce.
If Lou Dobbs is an example of the talking heads that are discussing Obama's speech, it doesn't bode well. His disparaging remarks about Reverend Wright are coloring his comments to encourage hostility and not understanding. I could only put up with a half hour of Dobbs's baiting and hypocrisy, but I found it ironic that he would deny Reverend Wright the right to criticize the United States in the strongest terms while he never passes up a chance to assail Congress and the president who are supposed to, but don't, represent the American people. This is especially true when people around the world understandably, because of our illegal war on Iraq and operations at Guantanamo, have downgraded their opinions of the United States. While China is committing human rights crimes in Tibet the United States no longer has the moral authority to criticize China or any other abuser of human rights.
4:55 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
One of the strengths of Obama's speech is that he talks about both the reality of persistent white racism and the reality of class inequality affecting whites. Since one key cultural function of race in U.S. culture has been to obscure class inequality this is difficult.
Obama's approach is clever. By beginning with the shared fact of resentment, though it takes different forms with different sources, and arguing that they are all understandable, he creates a psychological space in which reflection on the self-destructiveness and fruitless mutual destructiveness of resentment can become a common ground. How easy it is to go on from there is less clear, but even creating a space in which to talk about race and class without people feeling they're being suffocated by accusations of inherent moral inferiority of one sort or another is an achievement of sorts.
Damn, I wish I'd said that Chris. Great stuff.
I yield to no one when it comes to cynicism, and I only came to Obama initially as the most palatable alternative to Edwards, but from reading Dreams From My Father to the Q&As on the plane, where he composes thoughtful responses in a slightly slowed cadence, to today's speech, I'm starting to buy into this guy.
He understands the dynamics of the Forever War between the classes, and he's able to articulate it like no presidential candidate that I've heard.
For decades, it seems like Dem candidates would have staff cut and paste little hot button lefty aphorisms into their speeches to throw 'em a little red meat, and these speeches sound like exactly what they are. Pandering to the benighted fanatics that have just enough clout to merit the effort.
Then there are the perennial lefty candidates that are with me on the issues, but for various reasons can't explain the issues without sounding so out of touch as to wind up irrelevant time after time
4:57 p.m.
Mar 18, '08
To finish the thought-----
Go Obama, it's a long way to Denver and longer to DC.
Mar 18, '08
Can you imagine being Hillary Clinton right now and knowing what you could do for the world?
Mar 18, '08
Obama is being hit by talking heads for not abandoning or dumping the Reverend Wright. Do they always dump someone who has been a friend at the first sign of a flaw? How many of us have had a friend or relative with some fault we find objectionable but kept the relationship going because of some virtues we have appreciated and been the benefit of?
Mar 18, '08
That speech was historic.
Read it full text. Then watch the full video.
If he is elected it will rank right between the Gettysburg Address and "I Have A Dream".
If not, just ahead of Kennedy's religion speech, and two places ahead of Nixon's Checkers speech.
Mar 18, '08
Let's not compare Obama to MLK. Let's just say this: Obama is in a class by himself today, and the sky is the limit.
I'm thinking of another brilliant black celebrity, Tiger Woods. Ten years ago he was great, but he was "no Jack Nicklaus." Today, he's better than Jack ever was.
Let Obama grow. But for now, just be happy that he is poised to be our next President.
Mar 18, '08
In the America I hope for that was the speech!
Mar 18, '08
It was an important historic speech.
The CNN spin machine is continuing their Obama swiftboating. I heard Campbell Brown introduce a segment on the speech by saying, "After the racist, anti-American rhetoric of his pastor, Obama was forced to address it in a speech." That's how she introduced it.
On the Lou Dobbs show he had Lars Larson and another another conservative pundit whining with Lou that Obama hadn't addressed the issue of his pastor.
Did any of those people even watch the speech?
Paul>I wouldn't be anxious to quote Shelby Steele on anything after his Wall Street Journal editorial ascribing failed wars since WWII to the decline of white supremacy in the western world. I'm not kidding. Look it up. It's pretty bad. A KKK idiot was quoting Shelby Steele to justify his racist blather at another site.
Mar 18, '08
The CNN spin machine is continuing their Obama swiftboating. I heard Campbell Brown introduce a segment on the speech by saying, "After the racist, anti-American rhetoric of his pastor, Obama was forced to address it in a speech." That's how she introduced it.
If Campbell Brown saw fit to marry Dan Senor it is no surprise she has signed on with CNN to be another right-wing hack. Danny Boy gained considerable notoriety when he was J. Paul Bremmer's mouthpiece for the disastrous and incompetent Coalition Provisional Authority.
Blitz Wolfer, who followed Ms. Brown, made a few stabs at trying to stir up some controversy but didn't have much success since his panel consisted mostly of grown-ups. At least he spared his audience in this case his exasperating chant about "The Best Political Team on Television." What a crock!!
Mar 18, '08
As someone who was a college student 40 years ago and still remembers the week MLK was shot (I can still remember where we were living and all the events of that Spring, went to a religious retreat during that Easter vacation and remember someone who later applied to be a military chaplain making an inspirational presentation), Obama may not be MLK, but he is the closest I have seen in 40 years.
Mar 19, '08
I heard the speech in parts and listened to the DR Show analysis of the speech. It is a great speech and the racist critics want to capitalized on Rev.Wright to feed their BIGOTORY!! White Christians who maintain a nation rooted in racism and imperialist aggression can not be TRUSTED.Has white politicians who are beneficiaries of the legacy of SLAVERY in US ever been HONEST to repudiate their ancestry and family ties? Those making Obama's religious affiliation with Rev.Wright a political issue are DISHONEST and HYPOCRITES. There is a generation in America today that do not buy into rigid racist bigotory of the past and present and seek transcendence as real change towards a perfect union.Obama is a LIBERATOR!!
Mar 19, '08
Bill Bodden said: "...we would do well to give some thought to his [Wright's] words and ask why he was moved to use them. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for those of us who are white to appreciate the indignities and pain that members of minorities have experienced, but if we take some incident in our own lives that caused us some embarrassment or other social discomfort and multiply it by 20, 50 or 100, then we might get a clue."
And:
Guy Mmoasem said: "White Christians who maintain a nation rooted in racism and imperialist aggression can not be TRUSTED. Has white politicians who are beneficiaries of the legacy of SLAVERY in US ever been HONEST to repudiate their ancestry and family ties? Those making Obama's religious affiliation with Rev. Wright a political issue are DISHONEST and HYPOCRITES."
True and well said by both of you. However, I would sooner vote for Rev. Wright than Obama. I have heard nothing in the sound bites of Wright repeated endlessly on britneystream "news" that I would disagree with, while I have heard plenty by Obama that I would disagree with, including unqualified support for Israeli crimes against humanity, increased military spending, continued U.S. empire-building, corporate-controlled health insurance, NAFTA-like trade deals, etc.
Progressives need to decide whether they want to be progressives or whether they want to be Republican-lite on foreign and trade policy, and on corporatism. If the latter, you will likely lose against Republican hard, which McCain represents.
4:00 p.m.
Mar 19, '08
the amazing thing is that McCain has not one but TWO spiritual advisors with records of hate rhetoric. When's his disavowal speech?
Mar 19, '08
We must set a date certain of six months.
Nader/Gonzalez would set such a date certain.
Clinton/Obama/McCain would not.
Nader/Gonzalez would get U.S. oil companies out of Iraq.
Clinton/Obama/McCain would not.
Nader/Gonzalez would get all U.S. bases out of Iraq.
Clinton/Obama/McCain would not.
Nader/Gonzalez would cut the bloated, wasteful, military budget.
Clinton/Obama/McCain would not.
Clinton/Obama/McCain.
Nader/Gonzalez.
Like night and day.
War and peace.
4:14 p.m.
Mar 19, '08
Crazy and sane.
4:20 p.m.
Mar 19, '08
jeff, are you trying to say the Nader positions noted--Nader himself notwithstanding--is the wrong position in some cases? Which ones don't you agree with?
Mar 19, '08
I am first generation of immigrants in my family. I am US citizen. My grandparents and my parents all live outside USA. I am white. My family has no ties with slavery in United States. I understand that slavery is part of US history. But it is past. I went to college together with bunch of kids from different backgrounds. I live next to Latinos and African families. I was shocked to learn about Wright comments; I was more shocked that Obama is going to this church for 20 years.
I want to have president for all American people. So far, I don’t see Obama as one.
Mar 19, '08
Viki>Think of it like this. Joe Louis, one of the greatest boxers of all time, was the grandson of slaves, born in Alabama and lived during the period of segregation finally dying in 1981. His grandchildren would be Obama's generation, his children are Reverend Wright's generation. So it isn't as long ago as you might think. Slavery, segregation, lynchings, institutionalized racism have taken a huge toll in our society.
You wouldn't expect Joe Louis to have the same view of race relations as his grandparents or his grandchildren and that was a big part of Obama's speech. You cannot deny the past if you truly want to overcome the problems in this nation.
4:55 p.m.
Mar 19, '08
No, I'm just saying that the reason a fringe candidate can be pure on the issues is because ... he's a fringe candidate.
5:00 p.m.
Mar 19, '08
ah, I see what you're saying now. You were referring to the candidates, not the policies.
Mar 19, '08
Lani, I do understand that older generation has totally different view of the past. Nobody denying it. It is history. It was their experience. They lived through it. It is the same for people in Europe who went through WW2. Older generation doesn’t like Germans much. It doesn’t mean that generation that was born 30 years later hates Germany. Not at all. But it seems that blacks (some of them) in US do not want to let it go, to overcome this past painful experience. Why to let young kids to listen to hatful comments? Do you think it will make them more acceptable of others? People try to put whatever bad happened behind. Learn from it and move on. I just feel very disappointed. I didn’t hear in Obama speech what he as president will do to move on. He admits that problem exist, but how to solve it?
Mar 19, '08
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html
The speech is at the link above. I thought about copying in the relevant sections, but it would get too long but out of context.
He talked about how we can transcend our past together. That we will do it with better education, healthcare, enforcement of civil rights laws, work for better jobs, etc.
The best answer to this is to read the speech he wrote. Don't rely on quotes in the media or outtakes here. It is truly a remarkable document that will probably survive long after this election cycle.
Mar 20, '08
One more thing about solving problems. If you don't understand the source of a problem, there's no way you can fix it. I'll give you a real life example.
At company X a lot of bugs were getting out in software releases. Instead of looking at individual performance or evaluating the test suites or structures or any of dozens of things they could've done, Manager Y decided that the best way to fix this problem was to pay people a bonus for every bug they found. They found lots of bugs and paid out a chunk of cash. Yet buggy software was still getting out.
Unfortunately, the programmers were deliberately introducing bugs for the testers to find and then splitting the money.
What does this show? --Throwing money at a problem doesn't fix it. --Problems will get bigger if you ignore the cause. --Some solutions create more problems than they solve.
So the speech has lots of ideas to address the racial divide but if we don't truly understand it, we can't improve it.
Mar 20, '08
re: "the reason a fringe candidate can be pure on the issues is because ... he's a fringe candidate."
The problem for you non-progressives is that peace and justice are fringe issues for you.
It's a problem for you because it demonstrates to all who are paying attention that a democracy deficit exists between what the overwhelming number of people want and what Democrats/Republicans are willing to give them.
11:28 a.m.
Mar 22, '08
This won't get read, but on the off chance Viki might see it:
The "problem" is not just black people's views of their history.
The "problem" is not just slavery. The Jim Crow system in the former Confederacy (state mandated discrimination) was not formally abolished until 1964 and not in practice until some years later -- in living memory of many of us and of the parents of most adults. Permissive discrimination in other states started eroding earlier in some places but not others, and likewise persisted in practice after 1964.
Illegal discrimination persists. In 1983, when apartment hunting in New Haven, CT (a "liberal" northern state) I had one prospective landlord tell me that his apartment was good because the Italian mafia in his neighborhoods kept the ni***rs out, and another say that her neighborhood was good because there weren't many problem people, when I asked her what she meant, she said, you know, but you're not going to get me to say it.
The culture remains shot through with its racist history. It is changing in complex ways, but it's there.
Inequality on average persists because not only of slavery but a century of extensive discrimination after slavery up until very recently. White people have had and continue to have an advantage from their race, including immigrant families.
In many cases they have other disadvantages compared to other white people and in a much smaller number of cases, black people or members of other racial minority categories, based on class. The truth of those disadvantages doesn't erase the truth of the racial advantage, but it does contribute to the politics of resentment because the culture has in public pronouncements turned against racial discrimination but not against the systems that stack things against people on a class basis.