Obama Discusses Speech: "I Have No Idea How This Plays Out Politically"

Following his big speech on race Tuesday in Philadelphia, Obama sat down with ABC's "Nightline" and reflected on its potential impact:

Obama believes giving a speech on race was necessary but concedes that it is a politically risky move. By embracing race and bringing it out in the open, he admits that he could be perceived as "the race candidate."

"Absolutely," he said. "And so, hopefully this is something that we have talked about, we've lifted up, it will spur discussion, like Robert Kennedy's wonderful metaphor, "ripples of hope." You know, you throw a rock into a pond and those ripples will go out. We don't know where those ripples will go. I have no idea how this plays out politically. But I think it was important to do."

Read more from the interview here

Watch the speech here

Read reactions to the speech here

Comments

[mission91]

12:12 AM on 03/20/2008

I wouldn't vote for those lying Clintons if hell freezes over. Forget Monica. HILLARY is a big liar. In Ohio I heard her say, "I did not agree with NAFTA during my husband's administration." Appears that was ANOTHER lie.

The nuts writing on this blog are mad at Huffpost, AP, everybody but the woman that has misled them. Take your frustrations to Hillary's web site and give her a piece of your mind, she is the one who lied to you.

[BlogUser]

07:40 PM on 03/19/2008

If anyone thinks that Obama’s speech was great then i don't doubt that they have felt that they have been racist in the past and regret it and thus they felt that it was important for themselves to realize and its now the time for them to wake up OR you are the victim of the racism as almost all minority groups are except Jewish in this country, in one way or the other. I certainly feel for the minority in this case.

What struck me is, why people are forgetting that Mr Obama is running for President, HE IS A POLITICIAN and NOT A SAINT OR A SAGE. I believe people of this country are confused or stupid including many in from the Huffington post Bloggers (who writes and amazed by Mr. Obama's speech for so long). Reason, If he is really a sage or saint, who is running for Presidentship, he is forgetting he does not belong to Politics.
Politics is not a place to deal with heart and emotions (Mr. Bush did it and he failed). Words can definitely heal the emotions. Obama is doing that now. Real Great leaders of the world who fought for their nations rightfully did not choose to be President or Prime Minister. If he is really a change maker, he can do effectively not as President but as a Great Community Leader who can Mobilize the nation. By being in the office under Politics, his or her hands are tied to work under party rule to not only work for his nation but to create or lead the nation in the world.
Thus, if you still think he is a different type of politician, think again and again...

You will realize that he is making that impression to win the White House. His ONLY goal is the White House, thus you can say he is ambitious. He also does not want the 2nd position (as Vice President), shows his arrogance.
You can definitely judge me as i am throwing all kinds of character labeling on Obama, as i write this comments.

My comment is to make you realize that don't get confused or remain stupid. You can also think independently and realize that this is Politics. Politicians (Obama, Hillary or Mcain) in general will do anything to win the race. Have you seen any Politician that says i am withdrawing because i feel that i may damage the country. NO and you will never hear that unless it is obvious that he/she is loosing the race. If Politician are winning and observe that they are damaging the country or their victory will bring the nation to divisive line, Politician will not give up their victory for the nation. This is easy to understand if you are not confused or stupid.

If any politician is ready to lost the election, you will hear all kinds of good words that you have never heard him/her said in the past.

Anyway, If you still think Mr. Obama's speech has moved you, think again why. Also, think that whether a politician can really see the world from saint or sage perspective, during an election or after winning an election.

Likewise Mr. Bush played with Evangelical emotions (Bush touched an emotion of Fear). I feel if I put Obama under politician list that he is playing with Emotions of Youngsters and Middle Class. Only difference is Obama is playing with Emotion of Hope. So, both are politicians and playing with different emotions. This should not undermine an effort of Obama’s rightfulness of service he is doing for his community from his heart. My comment is about you realizing the difference between politics and different politician playing with your emotions and your reaction to that.

If you are that youngster or from middle class or from minority, after hearing Obama’s speech, you will be touched, overwhelmed, amazed, cry, fill your heart with good wishes, have hope for the future, definitely you will pray more. After few days you will come back to the same life. This is called a “death reaction”. Means, if you have lost your loved ones or unfortunately are injured, you feel exactly same way as you are now after hearing Obama’s speech for few day or for weeks and then you come to normalization. What you feel now after the speech few days or coming weeks will all come to normalization and will be forgotten. Only, reason I am saying that is because, history has proven this theory of “death reaction”. If this isn’t true then we all would have been living under one god and helping out each other, remember.

Are you confused yet, with my comments…. Yeap… that is called playing with your emotions. Exactly what Obama is doing to win the White House.

Good Luck,
BlogUser

[Beowoof]

07:22 PM on 03/19/2008

With all the time spent on these long winded angry comments, why not just drive to Pennsylvania and hand out some WAKE UP WHITE PEOPLE bumper stickers with Pastor Wright and Obama's picture on it.

[ruthinking]

06:49 PM on 03/19/2008

The speech is masterful, deep, and for all times. I would, though, have liked to hear more about the Church itself. From frends in Chicago, I hear of many of its good works and it would be good for the public to understand that it is a community, not just a place where people come just to hear a pastor. The community is a living breathing part of Chicago and it is understandable why Senator Obama would be its member.

[CitizenE]

05:39 PM on 03/19/2008

Because as a 61 year old Jewish American male, I have never heard a more important political speech by a presidential candidate in my lifetime, I have tried to absorb the responses at Huffpo by bloggers and posters as well as on other blogs. Progressives have a history of holding their candidates up to a higher standard for good and for ill. That of course is why at least in part there is so much Clinton animus. Hillary Clinton's husband could have done so much more good if he hadn't been riddled with skeletons and foibles. I believe Obama will get the nomination and will clock Mc Cain in the general election--Americans hate the war, are tearing their hair out about the economy, cannot afford the health care of their mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, let alone themselves, can barely afford the cost of driving to their stagnant wage jobs, let alone imported goods with the fall of the dollar bill. In the back of their minds is an environmental crisis of biblical proportions, and in answer to that is a walking daily youtube tourettes known as John McCain. But why the Clinton supporters instead of falling suicidally for the oldest Atwater-Rove style politics in the books aren't rising to the challenge speaking to the issue of gender as it applies to Obama's discussion of our national resentments and showing leadership through reconciliation in their own party is beyond me. I realize that what shows up on the blogs are posters caught up in the noise, but I am with great disappointment yet to hear from anyone in the Clinton camp rising to the challenge thrown down by Obama's speech yesterday. And those given to cynicism, whether you like the man or his candidacy or his religion, take time to ponder this, that speech was one of the most fearless and compassionate bits of oratory you will ever live to hear in your lifetimes, and you missed it because of your mired in the mud political mindset, more befitting a neoconservative paranoid than a progressive with the world's best interests at heart.

[ldjnews]

05:13 PM on 03/19/2008

There's way too much dwelling on a perceived negative. It's a small issue because it's guilt by association. I find the dwelling reactionary, another diversion. But it's good because it gives us the chance to talk about ourselves.

Here's my last word: A bi-racial man has a dream to become president one day, he goes out and associates with all kinds of people, he studies the politics and the laws of his country, and he participates in the issues of a community. He joins a church with a fiery preacher who isn't afraid to speak his mind. I don't condemn the words of Wright because I believe so strongly in free speech that I believe such words offer us the platform for dialogue. I have that much faith in us humans. I don't want to live in a world in which thinking is reduced to repeating sound bites and headlines as if we are oral t-shirts for those who insist we can't speak for ourselves.

We have to measure the degrees in everything. Otherwise, we get trapped in some either/or conundrum. You know, you're either with us or against us. That kind of thoughtless proposal gets translated into measuring a candidate's political value as either 100% or 0%. Well, no one can be 100%. That's just silly to think so, and I will assume we all agree. I will also assume everything is always in process.

We are messy creatures who make mistakes. All of us. Most of Obama's judgments and assessments in his campaign appear sound. He seems to have made the best decision at the right time. His speech itself is an example. Whether I agree or disagree with Wright's circulating words, Obama doesn't own Wright's words by association. I don't buy that kind of assumption. It's too is related to that either/or faulty reasoning.

But if you must denounce Obama after his speech, then he should go on with his campaign and leave you on the side of the road with your resentment and your faulty political measuring rod. My guess is Obama will still be here at the end to get the troops out of Iraq and to embark on the formidable task of fixing a broken system that has devastated a lot of Americans while helping a small group of people, including the Bush and McCain families and friends.

[emj2740]

04:42 PM on 03/19/2008

AlI I can say is that today I woke up and realized myself and a few hundred others in my church are all pedophiles because our priest was one. I guess I am a terrorist too, being a Catholic, because of the IRA. I'm slow and stupid and racist too because I come from the south. No, actually I am a white middle aged male Republican who is inspired by Obama and will certainly vote for him again in the general election. I'm sorry but this guilt by association is really a stupid argument. Oh I forgot, I am a Catholic but believe in a woman's right to choose. I am gay and still a Republican. I guess I just don't fit the labels people want to paint me with. Scary huh?

[caracalla]

04:41 PM on 03/19/2008

Obama's speech yesterday was eloquent...Great...but did it really answer why he had the speech in the first place. Instead of standing at the podium and explaining why he has had a relationship with a man that helped fuel racial divide and hate rather than acceptance/tolerance, he changed the subject and tried to elevate himself and talk about race in America and uniting the people. Sorry, but MLK was not only an orator but a great inspirational figure who fought for civil rights in his speeches and actions.

Obama is a great orator lacking real substance to speak truthfully and genuinely to these issues. In fact, if he was so concerned with these ideals, he should have walked out of the church the first time Rev. Wright spewed his hate in front of hundreds of people and especially in front of new generations. Instead, he continued to follow Rev. W, getting married and having his daughters baptized by him. I understand that racism exists and certainly there's reason to discuss it, but not in Obama's forum yesterday. It was inappropriate as the story wasn't about acceptance and racism, but Obama's strong tie to this man. His response is not one of moral compass, but a politician who was managing possible bad outcomes if he continued to ignore that. But he did a bait and switch and didn't answer why he followed Rev. Wright...he made this an issue of race in American and I call bullshit

For some perspective, had Hillary Clinton been in a similar situation, she would have been banished for having affiliated with any person who practiced hate...especially if it were some white guy talking against blacks in America. I don't believe that Obama is a racist, but as a potential President of the United States I would have liked to have know that he said black or white I will not sit her and listen to this.

The media pundits and Obamafiles who have had gulps of his cool-aid, look the other way and do not provide scrutiny to the choices he has made. They say he made a defining speech yesterday, sure it was, if Rev. Wright wasn't at the center of the issue. But he was and let's keep that in mind.

[BobSF94117]

04:30 PM on 03/19/2008

A black pastor rails against "whitey". McCain supports an evangelical who rails against Catholics. Bush and most Republicans fervently support various Protestant leaders who rail against gay people.

Lots of railing going on.

The only difference I see, and I believe it's a very important difference, is that whitey really did a lot of bad things to blacks in this country for over 500 years. And I say that as a "whitey".

Of course, I'm gay and formerly Catholic so maybe I'm just blind to the injustices those two groups have visited upon the white, protestant, heterosexual majority....

[joeythetrollslayer]

03:33 PM on 03/19/2008

I think from the beginning he decided to be the anti-bush candidate.
You know, weasel words galore, lies upon lies, Snow job WH press secretary, "lost" emails. All the laughing while talking and smiling about Iraq (Bush). So here he comes, thinking, ok, lets just forget about the posturing and propaganda and cable channel echo chambers, and just be honest. I don't think the govt has been honest about 9/11. Why would Cheney make a law 6 months before 9/11 banning pilots from having firearms? Why was Bush's cousin doing a security "upgrade" on one of the buildings that fell, a week before, disabling its cameras, then going on to another job. Why did they have a meeting before about insurance on the buildings if a terrorist strike were to hit? Why did they ship the melted steel from the buildings to China from a secure site.
None of this means they (the govt) did it, but it makes you wonder. We need a real investigation to get to the bottom of it. I could see a govt saying we need a new enemy to convince the public that terrorism is a real threat, and they decided that a few thousand people needed to be sacrificed. How many soldiers were used as meat during the initial storming of Iwo Jima? Many 10's of thousands. I think you have people up there doing tactical simulations, Nuclear War, chem, bioweapons-used to talking about millions dying, and a few thousand, to them, might seem a minor scrape. Terrorism is a threat, but no more than lead, asbestos, and all the other things that people are dying from (cancers, hospital errors-more than 100,000/year). Or the other explanation is that we have an incompetent government that doesn't want the truth to come out (Katrina mess) and tries to cover for it.

[UltraClassic]

03:30 PM on 03/19/2008

Hillary '08

What did Mr. Obama do?

He said, in a nut shell, "My guy can talk like this and yours can't, and here's why..."

Nothing more, nothing less. He is the worst of what he condems, a radical black seperatist who hides behind smooth pros and an adoring if not obsessed and blind fan base.

Hillary '08

[Thinkerrr]

03:24 PM on 03/19/2008

SILENCE IS COMPLIANCE

BUT TWENTY YEARS OF IT IS SOMETHING MUCH WORSE - IT'S AGREEMENT

ALL OF A SUDDEN MR. OBAMA HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS RACISM?

This "speech" was DAMAGE CONTROL SPIN

His attempt to "CHANGE" the subject. He's pretty good at it. A real trickster.

Obama adamantly refuses to wear a lapel flag pin

Obama's wife isn't proud of America

Obama won't put his hand to his heart and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

We gave them the benefit of the doubt. But suddenly it all makes sense.
And not a moment too soon.

WHY WAIT TO LOSE IN NOVEMBER ?

TIME TO CALL FOR RE-VOTES IN ALL THE STATES !

Obama threw his own white grandmother who gave him life under his campaign bus - no compassion for her honest fears. She could be useful.

He gave a "sermon" defending his rabid racist "spiritual adviser".
Suddenly after TWENTY YEARS he needs to save his political butt so he has something to say about this weekly racism.

LAST WEEK: I never heard those words

YESTERDAY: I heard those words, they're terrible

Wow. Audacity is right.

Phewy !! Can smell that one a mile away.

Obama "refused" a press conference. He "preferred" to give a Sermon - with flags and teleprompters. All of a sudden those flags are USEFUL to him. Bet he starts wearing one tomorrow. Like we wouldn't notice his motive.

Another Obama insult to the intelligence of We The People.

MR. O-DRAMA BAMA

CHANGE YOU CAN'T "BELIEVE" IN

CHANGE YOU CAN'T EVEN KEEP TRACK OF !!

His campaign is toast

God HAS BLESSED America !

[wakeupandlive]

12:13 AM on 03/20/2008

and Obama's a Muslim that was sworn in on the Koran, too . . . let's see how many blatant errors you have here:

Obama writes at length about race in America in his first book -- and about his grandmother.

Obama has always put his hand to his heart for the pledge of allegiance, he does not for the Star Spangled Banner -- just like most of us . . . look around you next time you are at ballgame or a monster truck show.

Obama raises the bar for all politicians by spending and an hour and a half answering any and all questions about his relationship with Rezko for the Chicago Tribune.

Obama's wife says this is the first time she is REALLY proud of her country as an adult. That adult life spans Carter and Iran, Reagan invading Grenada as a response to the bombing in Beirut, the Clinton years, and now what is looking to be the worst presidency in American history. There are some things to be proud of -- we rallied briefly after 9/11 -- before we went shopping, the Gulf War had some legitimacy, the Cold War ended because of decades of work and perseverance (and qutie a bit of nuclear stupidity), but what else has our government done that there is to be REALLY proud of in the last 30 years.

Do you wear an American flag on your lapel? Do all of your friends? Are they any less American? Obama wears the bracelet of a fallen soldier -- that is a hell of a lot more meaningful in my book.

And the intelligent educated people in this country vote overwhelmingly for him.

NY Times says that the nomination is now a long shot for Clinton, but you know that the campaign is toast?

And now Mike Huckabee acknowledges that this issue is being overblown and in Obama's lifetime people of color were/are called nasty, ignorant names for no reason, and some were not allowed to drink at the same water fountain.

You should change your log-in to tiggerrrrr, because that is about the level of your thinking.

[fullkelly]

03:06 PM on 03/19/2008

Obama preached to the choir. It will not net him any new voters and may in fact discourage some old ones. Nothing Obama said explained why he would sit through 20 years of sermons of anti-American and racial antagonism. Obama left most of us to draw our on conclusions. My conclusion is , Obama chose his preacher, the preacher had not chosen him. Obama enjoyed the sermons he said were sermons representative of the sixties, else Obama would not have attended those sixties sermons for the last 20 years.

[dr4Will]

03:02 PM on 03/19/2008

as a white swing voter I don't have any faith in a man who turns his back on his mentor to get a few votes--he is a sneaky,clever black candidate who can't hide from his church and his wife and rezko!!!

[tstamp]

03:26 PM on 03/19/2008

dr4Will: take off your white sheet and go post somewhere else.

[nohat]

12:00 PM on 03/20/2008

leave him alone, bossy. just scroll past if you don't like it.

[Synoia]

03:42 PM on 03/19/2008

Exactly how did he turn his back on his mentor? He did not agree with everything his mentor said, but all I have seen of his mentor is a few "cherry picked" clips of sermons over 20 years.

[CubanPete]

03:00 PM on 03/19/2008

This is how it is going to play out politically - Obama's lead over Clinton narrows: Reuters poll. Obama would not have made it past super Tuesday if the press had done their job and reported more on the Reverend. Seems (according to Reuters) WHITE PEOPLE HAVE WOKEN UP!!! Thank you Michelle!