We Are Here Because Of Ashley

Yes He Did.

Senator Obama shows us what kind of president he will be in a crisis. Obama will be a brilliant teacher, a sincere uniter and an inspirational leader. Often accused of peddling false hope and empty rhetoric, Obama put that criticism behind him. Obama put his words into action by asking of all us to continue to perfect our union together because of Ashley.

Obama the Teacher has the courage to remind us of our dark history from our country's beginning where both women and blacks were less than. Obama the Teacher reminds us of Jim Crow's economic and emotional terrorism. Obama reminds us that the playing field is still not yet level when it comes to housing, education and health care for many African-Americans. Obama reminds us the black Marines like his former Reverend came home to face discrimination from a county they fought and bled for. Obama also reminds us blacks that we need to move past victimhood.

Obama the Uniter illuminates the resentment that some white Americans feel too. Like some blacks, some whites say things behind closed doors that most, except mavericks like Geraldine Ferraro, won't say in public. Obama the Uniter uncovers our hidden resentments and ask all of us to do better. Obama leverages his unique heritage as a mixed race man with immigrant roots to speak truth to power. Obama realizes that together we can turn the page or silently-at-odds, we can remain mired in the past governed by our country's darkest and longest, running secret. Obama reminds us that we can hate the sin, but still love the sinner and bring the sinner into the now:

"Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

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.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

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. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

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.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well."

Obama the Leader urges us to turn the page on the old divisive politics. Everyone. Black, White, Asian, Latino, Rich, Poor, Young, Old, Liberal, Conservative, Male and Female. Obama the Leader urges us that together we have to and will do better. Don't let them rope-a-dope us and distract us with phony arguments about flag lapel pins. We care about the economy, education, health care and war that should never have been authorized by Senator Clinton. We are exhausted by "gotcha" politics. We have seen the future and it is Barack Obama. We have seen the past and it is the Right and the Clintons of late.

It is clear that Senator Clinton won't surpass Obama's pledged delegate lead and as Nancy Pelosi correctly points out -- this is a race about delegates. Clinton can't win the nomination through pledged delegates. Even with the worst case scenarios the Clintons keep spinning, she can't pull within 100 pledged delegates. A Clinton win in Pennsylvania will be neutralized by Obama wins in North Carolina and Indiana. Clinton can't win fair and square. The races in Michigan and Florida that Clinton didn't count until she needed them to win, won't be rigged to give her an advantage. At best, they will be resolved with a wash or a minimal bump in delegates. Without both Florida and Michigan, she can't surpass him in the popular vote either.

Clinton needs the superdelegates to hand her victory. She's even hinting that they're going after pledged delegates. Clinton wants to steal the nomination by convincing the superdelegates to overrule the will of the people. The Clintons will continue to try to throw the Rovian kitchen sink at Obama to make their argument that Obama can't win. Clinton is writing campaign ads for McCain by saying that McCain unlike Obama doesn't pass the "commander-in-chief" test and by saying that Obama isn't a Muslim "as far as she knows". Bill Clinton continues to dig a deeper race hole by making arguments that sound like "it depends on the what the definition of " race baiting is.

Democrats will push back. We don't like Bush but we sure don't like Bush/Rove tactics used on a fellow Democrat. I am convinced that the pledged delegates won't overturn the will of the people. First, because it is undemocratic. But also out of pure self interest. The superdelegates will come to understand that Obama's army of over a million donors can either help or hurt them. They can either re-elect them or find and fund opponents for those seats.

Democrats can live in the past or look Barack to the future. Obama is the likely nominee absent some cataclysmic disaster. Do democrats really want Clinton and her Army of Darkness to continue to smear, denigrate and belittle Obama? Really? Like him or not, he will be ours.

Do we really want to grab defeat from the jaws of victory? The Democratic party can cling to the Clinton, old-style of divide and conquer politics or turn the page for Ashley. For me, Obama's money line was in this part of his speech:

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

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.

The cynics will continue to blather on about Reverend Wright and the politics of guilt by association. Nothing Obama says or does on this matter will ever satisfy them short of the Reverend's public execution on Hannity and Colmes. Obama can denounce, reject, repudiate, distance himself from, condemn Reverend Wright but it will never be enough. Never. Ever.

Others, like me, will be inspired by Obama's call to action and continue this provocative and healing dialogue on race.

Let the perfection begin anew, we are here because of Ashley.

Read more HuffPost coverage and reaction to Obama's speech

Follow Karen Russell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Karen_Russell

Comments

[MagisterLudi]

"Obama the Teacher"....Obama the Uniter, Obama the Leader."

These titles brought a chill down my spine.

For me, this brings uncomfortable reminders of the Soviet propaganda I been exposed to in my childhood.

Please calm the hyperbolae.

Sen. Obama is a good middle-of-the road, novice politician, not a messianic figure.

[OneLiberalLady]

Sir, the woman did not refer to him as a Messiah. That is your reading something into her writing.
And let me ask you this: what if you found a leader to be inspiring, intelligent, eloquent and a leader? By commenting along those lines, would you be propogandizing or would you be merely stating what you believed to be the truth about the person?
For a lot of us who think most highly of Obama, the fact that we praise him means neither that we believe he is perfect or that we are seeking a Messiah. It means, in many cases, that we have observed the political scene long enough to know when we see something out of the ordinary.

[MagisterLudi]

He's inspiring, intelligent, leader, eloquent, most highly..., we praise him... out of the ordinary."
"We praise him?".... "Most highly?"...Now which church did I hear this language in?

This is even scarier than the original blog.

Thank you for confirming my point.

[MagisterLudi]

"Obama the Teacher"....Obama the Uniter, Obama the Leader."

These titles brought a chill down my spine. Is this becoming some kind of quasi-religious cult ?

Please calm the hyperbolae.

Sen. Obama is a good middle-of-the road, novice politician, not a messianic figure.

Please turn off the Fearless Leader stuff.

For me, this brings uncomfortable reminders of the Soviet propaganda I been exposed to in my childhood.

Let's fight Republicans, not deify one candidate at the expense of the party.

[NursePatric]

Maybe Ashley gave him a ride or promised him free cookies and coffee -- "I am here because of Ashley" -- yeah, I need more info. Remember when Hillary cried -- she was asked how she does it -- keep her hair styled that is. I don't believe Ashley ate relish sandwiches for a year. It stikes me as an over the top story designed to manipulate voters. If indeed Ashley did eat only relish on bread for a year that's all the more reason to vote for Hillary -- whose health plan covers ALL parents as well as children. Hillary has cited the specific reason contained in the Ashley story -- parents are the breadwinners -- kids need health care and FOOD too. Obama's plan will not cover all parents -- and all the Ashleys -- even those lucky enough to have peanut butter or cold-duts -- will be hungry still if their parents get sick. Vote Hillary: Health Care for All! Or vote for the feel good candidate -- but don't do it for Ashley ... that doesn't make sense. There is a candidate who has been worried about all the children -- every color, size, shape, ability -- for all of her life. One who has spent thousands of hours of her own time fighting for them. MMmmmmm....

[CatfishJohn]

....Ms. russell, that was a truly compelling essay and i can only hope that the undertone of Obama's speech- which connects deeply to dr. King's statements in the mid-60's about how we must address the issue of class economics as an integral aspect of the racila divide - will lead to a regeneration of that spirit and forgotten perspecitve in american political debate. but i do fear in fact that above and beyond the inevitable, vicious attack on obama, itself obviously to be replete with racial content, we will be facing a massive set of institutioanlly in-place obstacles if and when this man and his agenda arrives in the white house in january:
1. the corporate media will continue its vapidity and minimize the gravitas of this obviously gifted man. our past two presidents have been character disordered buffoons each in their own way whose "aw shucks" personas and relentless naricssisms have dulled and dumbed down the political debate for certain.
2. the corporate media's agenda is in a very real way antithetical to the agenda of obama. rekindling the spirit of the civil rights movement and a sense of economic egalitarianism is not how the media operates currently in their relentless sycophancy to the millionair­e/billioni­are class and obvious championing of the corporate agenda and "greed is good" /balls to the wall capitalism.
3. americans sense of social and community obligation has been ground into virtual dust by the reagan-bush-clinton -bush trajectory. reagans shredded to safety net and a supposed liberal bill clinton actually said, ' we have to accept a permanent and growing underclass in america". obama's challenge of fundamentally redefining the "rules of how the game is played in america" as different form these 30 years of social darwinism will be daunting.
..and, as i have done before, i want to second another's statement about admiring your dad for more than his ability to win basketball games....his personal ethics and life experience in louisiana and afterwords resonates through your written words...

[GoCards1978]

Amen to that, including the "hear, hear" to Bill Russell (great "Iconoclasts" episode on Sundance).

[Lempira]

people, TRY to show some class
This candidate is
PRETEND you have maners
Karen, there are MANY MANY people out there who feel EXACTLY as you do.
I am also disheartened by the behavior of the HRC team. I guess she figures if you can't win a beauty contest , you tunr it into an UGLY contest. This man is trying to be dignified in his behavior. Isn't it interresting how hard he has to fight to prove his worth? How much MORE he has to achieve to be considered EQUAL to the other candidates.
MANY people HEARD his words and will not forget them!!
It is a shame that everyone else cannot seem to follow his level of behavior.
There are some of us who get it.

The problem with HRC and many others is that they don't get what's going on. We want something more than BS from our polititians

[MagisterLudi]

More than BS?

OK, here it is.

The so called anti- war candidate Obama voted AGAINST Kerry -Feingold bill to create a time table for Iraq withdrawal.

Obama voted NAY when a bill came up to limit the outrageous interest rates credit companies charge to 30%. Apparently Obama thought 40% interest ain't so bad.

He then immediately collected 1/4 mill from grateful credit companies.

Open your eye: Obama is a decent middle-of-the-road bourgeois Democrat, and an unknown quantity. novice. You know little about him besides his speeches and canned pitch.

Think for yourself.

[MagisterLudi]

"God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme. " Mr. Wright....

Sorry I can't bring myself to call him Reverend, because hate mongers don't deserve this title.

"The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation." Obama

Ah, the Bush administration approach to truth: deny, deny, deny.

Let' s wait for Youtube video of Obama in the pews listening to hate-fllled speeches of Mr. Wright.
Obama supporters: pray no such video emerges, 'cause this would be the end of the run.

[Krazime]

That's not hatemonger­ing....its called TRUTH. That which white america can't seem to face.
But the good ole boys are at it again....y­eeeehaaaaw­www!

Whether you like it or not Reverend Wright was a Marine and is a veteran of this country.

Oh yeah...apparently you haven't heard. They already LIED and said he was in the pews at one of those fiery sermons. Just yesterday, check NewsMax and Kristol. They had to recant their story, but as typical, the truth was kept very quiet.

[MagisterLudi]

I DON"T CARE that Mr. Wright was a Marine. He's a hate monger and a racist.

Gasp... what shock. I've hear plenty of racist comments from my African American colleague and friends. Most were said in the open. I hate to think what is being said in private.

Surprise... most of rich African Americans men tend to marry women with a lighter color then themselves.

African American community can be as racist as any other community. The perplexing part is that there's a sense of entitlement to racism. You know it and I know it.

No need to sweep it under the carpet. Let's address the REAL issues head on. Obama did nothing of the sort. He tried to keep his black cred. and the white progressive cred. intact. It didn't work, he's slipping badly in the poll.

[MagisterLudi]

To continue in Obama's mode:" I support Hitler, but reject his message" or " Idi Amin is a nice guy, but I reject his policies" Bush is a guy you'd want to have a beer with, but let's cut him some slack, he's been oppressed as cheerleader at college."

People who preach hatred should NOT be preachers, period. Inciting people to hatred is contrary to EVERY religion in the world. Especially when it's done by a rich, well-fed, Mercedes -driving guy like Mr. Wright.

[Veeve]

30 seconds of video can not encapsulate a lifetime's worth of works. For someone implying that they are a student of Herman Hesse, you definitely don't seem to have extracted the appropriate lessons from his works.

[MagisterLudi]

For a politician like Obama, a novice, his ENTIRE campaign is built on images and symbolism, not achievement.

You're right, a video " cannot encapsulate a lifetime", but it can certainly destroy a candidacy by creating equally powerful symbolism and perception.

[johnsnakecusak]

Excellent thoughtpiece on the history-making, phenomenal speech by Barrack =)
That being said, your remarks would be even better without the obligatory Hillary bashing.
This country would be graced by having either Democratic candidate in the Whitehouse the next 8 years. They are both excellent candidates, and bashing Hillary does nothing to build up support for Obama in the minds and hearts of the roughly 50% of Democrats, who love and support Hillary.
Obama actually made reference to the senseless Hillary bashing going on in the media, to his great credit. Read the speech again and take note of what your candidate's words were on this subject.

[Krazime]

Yeah, to his great credit....we were taught to turn the other cheek.
But hillary....she didn't bash Obama, right?! And you think now after tearing Obama down, we're all supposed to jump on the hillary bandwagon??

Fuggedaboutit! I'm totally done with the dems. hillary and bill can both kiss my you know what!

[larry278]

Outside the usual reactionary, radical, right wingnut ReThugLieCon trolls, those who've commented upon Karen's blog have raised the level of comments HP uses. We're having a lousy, cold, rainy day in E Pa today. Karen's blog & the comments on it have cut through the gloom for me. Thanks.

[usna73]

It must be my advancing age, but I am stunned to still be reading ugly and sceptical remarks about Obama on this page. I chose to read this blog expecting much better.

Instead, the cynics drone on. Are they all shills for the right wing lunatics? Or has the latest art form of social Darwinism since Reagan actually alteed the DNA and psyche of this country.

This Republic was forged and founded by idealists. It was saved from being irreparably torn by idealists. It shed the shackles of lawful discrimination that was raced based, gender based and sexual preference based.

The Nation, the greatest experiment in the history of man, was led by idealists who pulled it up from depression, defeated Nazism, staunched Communism and remain the palce where the world's suffering population wishes to arrive.

The blood, sweat and tears upon which the country has built this platform is evident in the sense of idealism which Obama willingly displays. His leadership is the ony thing that can shift the pendulum which threatens to destroy us in the Robber Baron era and moral bankrpuptcy.

I may only suggest that the cynics among us need only to ponder the fate of another great Republic whose fate was sealed during a period of similar decline,........ ROME.

Obama may be the only true patriot left in politics today.

[MagisterLudi]

Re."Obama may be the only true patriot left in politics today."

Ah, the less savory side of personality cult in full display.

[northeast73]

It was not THAT good. Only to the Obmanation was it "so moving". It will do nothing to repair the damage done. Sorry but thats a fact.

The comparisons to Obama and great leaders is so pathetic and tiresome. HE IS NOT JFK, MLK, RFK OR ANYONE ELSE BUT BHO, and underaccomplished former state senator. Good greif

[falgiano]

if you were uninspired by that speech, then i have serious doubts that any speech will move you. facing up to the complex, contradictory nature of human beings and our history as a country is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and then to succeed with such grace and humanity as Obama demonstrated is inspiring. if you're alive in the first place, of course.

[kingshmoopy]

"only to the Obamanation was it 'so moving,'" sorry but not at all true. I've been having many insightful and meaningfull exchanges today with people I know about this speech--some are Clinton supporters, some are Republicans, some are Obama supporters. ALL say one thing--if you focus on the message of this speech it is an honest, insightful, amazing call for us, as Americans, to make a decision about where we are going to go next.

Do we continue down the road of meaningless distractions and trivial bickering, or do we confront, with honesty and respect, an enormous wound that exists in our country--and the inequality that is still caused by it? Obama spoke about the things that we all have in common, the battles that belong to all of us, the fact that we all have a decision to make about what we do next. I have children, my choice is to move forward and do what I can. I hope, no matter who you support in this election, for the sake of all our children, you decide to move forward as well. So, yes, his speech alone cannot heal this nation, or move us forward. But Obama has always said, since the beginning of his campaign, that this is about all of us making decisions about where to bring this country, and then working our asses off to make it a reality.

[cheriemarie]

Integrity. Obama.

[Centaur]

This speech will go down in history as one of the greatest ever. This was a course on racism. I've been calling it Racism 101 and Professor Obama has given us the exam. Anerica, will you pass it? I'm betting that the majority of us will.

[Jazzylady26]

Dang, ya'll suckin' on that Obamatini, or something else, like I dunno what! This is the most amazing thing I have seen in all my life, and believe me, I've seen crazy. You hang on that man's every word as if here were some kind of god, and it is truly - weird. It's as if there are two kinds of people in the world at this time; those who have drunk the tini(or something else) and those who haven't, and I'm one who hasn't. I see nothing in this man, nothing at all. I can't see all that everyone else is seeing, I can't hear it, I can't feel it, and I can't even say that I particularly want to. What do I feel? I feel that Barack Obama is the biggest charleton and bamboozler ever to come down the pike, and that he will do nothing but break the hearts of those who believe in him. I feel that he is going to be the biggest disappointment ever, whether he wins the nomination or the White House, that he really doesn't have what it takes to be president at this or any other time. I actually don't feel as if he will make it to the presidency because he has some things in his background that are going to be used against him by the republicans. It will probably be a short race. I'm really beginning to feel sorry for you people. You're blindly following this man for whatever reason, something I don't understand, perhaps it's you ages, being too young to have really gotten the effects of the beauty of Dr. King and the movement, but I wish you would just vet this man, right now before it's too late, before more damage is done, to yourselves and the party. I hope that when the Obamatini wears off the hangover is not too great.

[Rachiavelli]

Wooooo, I am like, totally wasted on the desire for a smart, humane, honest leader! Whoa! I never act like that! I mean, how fucked up am I, that I want a capable, kind, progressive president?! OMG, take a picture of my tits! Let's make out, and talk about how great a guardian of the constitution a like, constitutional law professor and expert would make!

Will you hold back my hair, while I vomit civic involvement into the toilet of reason?

Get a new metaphor, dumbass.

[Hattie]

How can anyone who remembers Dr. King think of Obama as anything but a lightweight?
This speech with all the American flags and the wonky stretches and the little touching kitsch stories about Ashley and his old racist grandma who loved him. but was afraid of the black mens.
Time to grow up, America! Start getting real about what we're up against.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

... Barack Obama is the biggest charleton and bamboozler ever to come down the pike. -- Have you ever heard of George W. Bush?

... he is going to be the biggest disappointment ever. -- See above.

... he really doesn't have what it takes to be president. -- And again with the GWB.


... he has some things in his background that are going to be used against him by the republicans. -- Really? Like what? He's a closet Muslim - been there, debunked that! He fathered not one, but TWO BLACK babies -- well that old dog just won't hunt. He did cocaine when he was young -- 1. he's already admitted that, 2. that didn't stop GWB from being elected, and he unabashedly snorted blow well into his 40's. What's left?

Take your drivel elsewhere Forrest Gump.

[GoCards1978]

Actually, Forrest Gump had more class than this neanderthal.

[PioneerKing]

Divisiveness is the currency of political expediency. Although, divisiveness keeps us from addressing substantive issues such as the bailout of Bear Stearns, $111.00 barrel of crude oil, China's treatment of Tibet, trade agreements that undermine the fabric of our economy, mortgage and lending crisis and undermines the fabric of our society, divisiveness will remain king.

The speech will not be enough. This is the beginning of the downward spiral of Sen. Obama's campaign. The events of the past few weeks have become justification for democrats who have been hesitant to support Sen. Obama to turn away from the senator and his message of Hope. These democrats, as well as independents and republicans, now have a “justifiable out,” without having to question their bigotry or racism.

It won't be enough. The events leading up to Sen. Obama's speech today are synonymous to the straw that broke the camel’s. These events are all that were needed to allow hesitant delegates to back away from Sen. Obama and back Sen. Clinton. Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign has peaked, the shining beacon of his political capital has been tarnished and the long term out look for his future in politics has diminished. Sen. Obama has been rendered ineffectual.

[joehigashi]

Yes, you can make things true just by saying them! All you have are impotent predictions that won't be worth the bandwidth they take up once Obama, you know, gets the nomination. Go peddle your flea-bitten bunk to Newsmax or some other journalistic toilet paper. No one cares about your self-parodying claims over here, you obtuse toad.

[seamikej]

How about a little conversation about the Kool-Aid drinkers in the ANTI-Obama camp. I see this reflexive, vitriolic opposition to ANYTHING Barack Obama has to say just as disturbing as the religious, zealot-like fervor they claim the senators supporters display.

I mean, jeez, didn't he have a nice tie on? Wasn't his hair neat and tight? Come on people, there has to be SOMETHING to this intelligent, thoughtful, accomplished man. After all, it was his speech at the Democratic Convention that begot his national profile. You had to see something. At some point.

O.K...

I know he's threatening the stranglehold the old guard has on the control of the Democratic Party, and that frightens you. But, didn't Bill Clinton do the exact same thing when he rose to power?

The truth is (like it or not) that Obama's candidacy has much more in common with President Clinton's presidential campaign than Senator Clinton's does.

Maybe that's what scares you the most. You've seen this before in the party.

That is...if you're Democrats at all.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

By Old Guard do you mean Corporate Contributors and the DLC?

Sen. Clinton's campaign is very much like President Clinton's campaigns : all 'I' need is 29 states to get elected, Fuck the Party. It's exactly that strategy that lost the Dems the Majority in both chambers of Congress while Bill Clinton was in the White House.

[deb123]

I hope you're wrong. I understand what you're saying, but I hope you're wrong. We have to keep in mind that Obama is being slammed not for what he said, but what he may or may not have listened to. His nomination could be such a turning point for our country -- an honest change in direction-- if we have courage -- if the DNC has courage. We could carry on the fulfillment of our promise of the "noble experiment." We need at least a generation of healing and reconstruction and we need someone to begin to lead in a new direction. I trust Obama and will continue to support him because I still believe in what he stands for and believe he is the most able leader for this time in our history.