Obama Speech Comment Thread

I didn't see anyone post this, and he's about to give his "major" speech.  I'd like to use this as an open comment thread, and I'll update as the speech progresses.

Sound like a plan?

10:24am EST: We're still waiting for the speech to start.  Much punditry pontificating and killing time.

10:28am EST: They're talking extensively about the tightrope Obama has to walk - that he has to repudiate the comments without repudiating the man himself.

10:30am EST: Scarborough tosses to Pat Buchanan, raising the spectre of Fallwell's post 9/11 comments and other comments made by other evangelical pastors.  He questions whether or not this is a double-standard, given that other pastors who have said inflammatory things have not been repudiated.  Buchanan's point is that it's afro-centric (Wright), and the question is why Obama didn't walk out of the church in disgust when he heard these things.  Buchanan states it's "not credible" that Obama didn't know about Wright's views.

10:30am EST: I want to smack Pat Buchanan.  He invokes the spectre of David Duke as compared to Wright.  Says that if Duke was your best man at your wedding and Godfather to your children, it would be impossible not to know his views.  He doesn't point out that Duke's positions were ALWAYS public whereas Wright was not nationally known prior to Obama's candidacy.  Scarborough asks if it's fair to compare Duke and Wright.

10:38am EST: Ok.  MSNBC went to break, and there were guys on the stage where the speech will occur checking things etc.  So far the speech doesn't appear to be imminent.

10:46am EST: Buchanan commenting on Obama's "excellent" speech at the 2004 convention, but also saying that he can't hit hard in direct politics, and that that is a disconnect.  Buchanan goes on to point out that Obama CAN separate himself from Wright but that it doesn't explain the 20 years of CHOOSING him as a pastor.  He goes there to the afro-centric thing again.

Next lady (Nancy something) points out that African Americans are not a monolith - they don't always think alike.  She also talks about Ferraro bringing the racial issue into the mix moreso than Obama has or Wright has.  Points out that lots of African American voters had a lot of pause with respect to Ferraro.  Suggests that African Americans closed ranks after Ferraro around Obama.

10:53AM - GAME ON.  Here's Obama.

Starts with "We The People, in order to form a more perfect union".

References the historic location of Philadelphia in the birth of America.  References the Declaration of Independence.  Talks about the document they produced was signed but unfinished, because it didn't address teh sin of slavery.

Says answer to slavery question was already contained in the Constitution.  Yet the words would not be able to deliver slaves from bondage, to provide freedom for years.  What was needed was Americans to protest, to narrow the gap between promise of ideals and reality of the times.  It was one of the tasks HE set forth at the beginning of the Presidential campaign.  To continue the march for a more just, equal, free, caring, and prosperous America.

Chose to run at this moment because he believes deeply they can't solve challenges unless they are solved together.  References diversity, but a common thread of moving forward with unity.

He tells his story - black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas.  Talks about his wife, a black woman, who came from slaves.  He references the incredibleness of his story - and how it has made him an unconventional candidate.

This nation is more than the sum of its parts - out of many, we are truly one.  Throughout the year of his campaign, against the odds, he saw how Americans responded to message of Unity.  Won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest population.  Built coalition of white and African American constituencies.  Addresses race in the campaign - references media scouring exit polls for evidence of racial polarity.

Only in last few weeks has race and the candidacy taken a negative turn.

He says that wild-eyed people have suggested his candidacy is an exercise in Affirmative action on one end, and references Wright on the other end.  (interesting method).

References the "nagging questions" regarding Wright.  Did he know Wright said some things that he disagreed with and did he hear them in church?  Absolutely.  References anyone has heard such things from a priest or pastor.  Says Wright's views expresses a profoundly distorted view of America, that raises conflit above cooperations.

Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive.  References war, falling economy, devastating climate change as the REAL problems and restates the profound wrongness of Wright's statements given the challenges ahead.  Acknowledges that his statements with respect to Wright may not be enough for some people.  Confesses that if all he knew of Wright were the snippets of those speeches run in an "endless loop" he would understand.

But then states that that is NOT all he knows of Wright.  References Wright's work with the poor - his history as a marine - how he led a church that had served the community (homeless, needy, prison ministries, AIDS sufferers).  

Talks about his first book - takes a passage - this part is key and I'll need a direct transcription.  But he describes, through his BOOK of years ago, the positive power of the church to which he belongs and what his underlying story and philosophy means in the context of that church.  

Talks about Trinity as a church and a community - its diversity across the board from gang members to doctors.  Church contains kindness and cruelty, intelligence and shocking ignorance, that make up the black experience in America.  This helps explain his relationship to Wright.  As imperfect as he may be, he is family to Obama.  He strengthens him faith.  NEVEr in conversation with Wright has he heard any racism against Wright.  Never witnessed anything but politeness from Wright with whites.

Can no more disown Wright than he can disown black community.  Any more than he can disown his grandmother, who confessed a fear of black men when she passed them in the street.

THESE PEOPLE ARE PART OF ME, and part of the country that I love.  Some will see it as an attempt to justify comments - it is not.  The politcally smart thing to do is to disassociate himself from Wright.  But race cannot be ignored.  We would make the same mistake (in doing this) that WRight originally made by simplifying and amplifying the Wright issue.

If we walk away now, we won't be able to face the issues - healthcare, economy, etc. - that face America.  Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point.

Quotes Faulkner: "The past isn't dead and buried - it isn't even past".  Disparities that exist between blacks and white goes back to inequalities passed on from slavery forward.  Segregation of schools still hasn't been fixed, and they provided inferior education for black students.  Legalized discrimination in the past - no property ownership - no loans made for blacks - exclusion from unions - meant that blacks couldn't amass wealth to pass to future generations and explains income disparity.  Lack of economic opportunity among black men contributed to the erosion of black families.  

NOW he turns to make the point that THIS was the America that Wright came from.  I think this is a VERY smart move, to provide context without excuse.

For the men and women of Wright's generation the memory of humiliation and doubt and anger has not gone away.  The anger may not be present every day, but it exists in the barber shop and beauty shop and around kitchen table - and occasionally it finds its way into the pulpit.  The fact that people find that shocking - that anger - reminds us that the most segregated hour occurs every Sunday morning.  That doesn't mean the anger is always productive - references what that anger prevents - but the anger is REAL.  It's powerful.  To wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm that exists within the community.

References how this occurs as well in the white community.  The Immigrant community.  How no one handed them anything - how they see their jobs outsourced and how they feel their dreams slipping away.  Opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, where YOUR dreams suffer to benefit ME.  He is REALLY acknowledging his own understanding of resentments - of reality - of what has brought us to this point in our history.  Very smart.

Racial issues distract from the REAL culprit - Corporate culture - short-term greed - economic policies that favor the few over the many.  Wishing THESE away widens the racial divide and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now.  It's a racial stalemate that has existed for years.  It can't be solved in a single election cycle or with a single candidate, particularly a candidacy with a candidate as imperfect as he is.  Working together, though, we can move beyond old racial wounds.  We really have no choice in addressing this.  Embrace the past without becoming a victim to it.  Bind our mutual grievances together and address them.  Take full responsibilities for our own lives, demanding more of parents and taking more time with our children.  Never let them succumb to despair or cynicism.  Must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

References how WRight's speeches really did emphasize self-reliance.  But their failing was in not recognizing that the history isn't static - Wright was stuck in a point in time without seeing the whole picture that allows a Barack Obama to run for President.  What we know and have seen is that America can change.  It's the true genius of the nation.  Gives us the audacity to hope.  In white community it means acknowledging that what ails the black community doesn't just exist in their own minds - these things are real.  

In the end what is called for is nothing less than what all the great religions demand: that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  That we are our brother's keeper.  We have a choice - we can accept politics that breed divisions.  We can tackle race only as spectacle (OJ trial) or disaster (Katrina) and play Wright's speeches.  We can pounce on gaffe by a Hillary supporter or speculate on whether white men will flock to McCain in the general.  We can do that.

But if we DO, the next election we'll be talking about a new distraction, then another one and another one.  And nothing will change. That's one option.

OR - at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say "not this time".  This time we can talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of ALL children.  Children of America are not "those" kids - they're "our" kids.  Not this time.  This time we want to talk about the emergency rooms with lines of whites and blacks and hispanics with no healthcare.

This time we want to talk about the mills that used to provide a living for Americans, and the homes where they used to live.  This time we want to talk about the idea that it's not someone who doesn't look like you taking your job - it's the Corporations who ship it oveseas.  This time we want to talk about bringing home men and women of all color from a war that should have never been authorized nor waged, and how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them and their families.

Wouldn't run if I didn't believe with all of my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for their country.  Today when he finds himself feeling doubtful or cynical, he gets hope from the next generation.  THeir openness to change has already made history in this election.

He closes with a story.

I think this has been a gREAT speech but it won't stuck until we hear the spin on it from the press.