I was wrong.
Barack Obama is the right candidate, warts and all.
Any politician who could make the speech he made today, synthesizing our country's socioeconomic challenges with the highest level of insight, diplomacy and compassion I have ever witnessed from a national figure, earns my vote.
Ask yourself whether Hillary Clinton, in a dozen lifetimes, could speak with the honesty that Obama delivered today.
I voted for Hillary in the primary, but I will support and volunteer for Obama going forward.
And yes, the speech was that good. But I was already on the verge of switching after Hillary broadcst the 3 AM ad and failed to dismiss Ferraro immediately (waiting a few days to see how the wind was blowing and then axing Gerry was almost worse, showed cold calculation and nothing more). I hesitated because of how unfairly Hillary's appearance on 60 Minutes was handled by the media (http://mediamatters.org/columns/200803110002) and learning that even some of Bill's comments in South Carolina were taken out of context.
But it's no longer about voting for or against Hillary. It's about voting for a candidate who showed the guts I've been desperately waiting for a Democratic candidate to have for a long time. I don't know how the national media will play the speech; I'm not exactly optimistic. But I can't imagine that anyone who heard and read every word wouldn't be moved by the moment.
Here's the full text of the speech:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808A.shtml
3 comments:
Josh - I haven't been able to bear listening to any of the news analysis of this speech, I am worried they will twist his words. I can't even imagine what they're saying on Fox - don't want to know. Was it inspirational enough to convert anybody? Karina
I listened live to Obama's speech. I have never heard anything so frank on this topic of race, on this public a level, in my lifetime.
I havent heard the stuff that Wright's "offensive" statements, but I really liked his explanation of where Wrights comments came from, the history of discrimination against blacks.
His comment about racist comments by his white grandmother was useful.
But most strikingly, the boldest move was to address white working class resentment. no one has done that on such a public stage since Howard Dean tried it in 2004 when he said "we have to appeal to guys with Confederate flags in their rear windows." I agreed with Dean then, though he got lots of flak for it.
I have a "media analyst" friend who says that, whether or not he converted anyone, the important thing is that he addressed the issue and the media can chew it up and spit it out over the next few days and it will be old news before next week.
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