More Perfect Union

I had been following the primaries and had been leaning towards Barack Obama from early on, though Edwards and Clinton also held appeal for me.  Now that it's down to two, I'll be happy with either one, but would very much prefer to see Obama in the White House - especially after his speech in Philadelphia.

While people rave about him being a great speeker, I was actually a bit underwhelmed when I first saw him speeking at some rally on TV.  Part of it is that I find these stump speeches with their captive audiences full of supporters a bit of a turn off.  With all the cheering it doesn't seem all that different from a high school pep rally and not much more relevant.  Of course, this is true for all campaigns, as far as I am concerned.  And during the Clinton-Obama debate in Austin, I didn't really feel like one stood out over the other.

But I do like his message and I took the time to read The Audacity of Hope and was deeply impressed, both by his prose as well as by his views and the introspection that he exhibits in his writing.

So when I heard that Obama was going to talk about race in an effort to address the Rev. Wright Jr. controversy, I was curious how he would tackle it.  The expedient way would have been to completely reject his pastor and, frankly, pander to the majority white voters in the upcoming primary states.  I was dreading that he would be selling out, but as it turned out I needn't have worried.

I read the speech rather than watching it (here's the transcript and here's a video) and it gave me goosebumps.  This was a speech in the vein of Dr. King or John Kennedy - one of those things politicians aren't supposed to be doing anymore, right?  In his More Perfect Union speech, beside addressing the issue of the Rev. Wright, Obama took the opportunity to grab the "third rail of American politics" with both hands to openly talk about the historical background and pervasive divisiveness that permeate the issue of race.  He didn't really say anything that he hasn't covered in his book, but it was more succinct and highly relevant due to the frenzy surrounding the former pastor of his church.

Now I don't know how it will come across when chopped down into 30 second sound bites, and I would encourage everyone to listen or read the speech in its entirety.   And despite the pundits' arguing over whether "it was enough" and "swayed the voters", try to not listen to it as a "campaign" speech focusing on things for or against your preferred candidate.  Instead listen to it as an essay on where America is and where it should hope to be when it comes to race relations.

And don't take my biased word for it.  Obama's speech was well perceived across the spectrum, from The New York Times, which has endorsed Hillary Clinton and called the speech Mr. Obama's Profile in Courage, to the conservative Washington Post which called it a Moment of Truth.