I just read this powerful post on The Daily Kos, about a man getting his car fixed at a Jeep dealership in a conservative Altanta suburban area, when Obama's speech on race in America comes on TV. His fellow customers are riveted, and their responses are a powerful testament to the ability of Obama's words to reach across political lines and draw people in from disparate worlds.
The message also confirmed my own experience with conservative Republican friends who've told me, "You're not going to believe this. I know Obama's way too liberal for me, but I respect his integrity and think I'm going to vote for him in November."
From the Kos Diary of Socratic, ">Watching Obama With Strangers:
...Now, I'm not going to talk about the speech itself. Plenty of folks have done that. I'll just say that I was watching intently, pleased with what I was hearing. When, after about 5 minutes, the guy who was working on my car came by to tell me that the car wouldn't be ready until the afternoon, I thanked him and stayed right where I was to watch the rest of the speech. But something curious happened. I was snapped out of the moment of the speech by the mechanic's visit, which was fine because Obama was, in a very real sense, giving the speech about race in America that I've wanted to hear my entire life: genuine, personal, intelligent, and direct. I've watched the speech again since this morning, and it didn't disappoint, but just at that moment I stopped watching it ...
... and started watching the people around me. The young black man. The elderly white couple. The two white women, one college-aged, one in her late-20s. One middle-aged white woman. Two white men, one college-aged, one in his late-30s. One Asian couple. All of them were watching the speech. Rapt. Nodding.
Gradually, the twentysomething white woman went back to her laptop, but kept smiling when Obama would say something important. The elderly white couple whispered in their Southern accented way: "He's really good... He's saying good things... He's a good young man..." The young black man chuckled when Obama said that Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America, but was otherwise simply watching. And at one point, the middle-aged white woman asked one of the dealership folks, in another thick, thick Southern accent if she wouldn't mind turning up the volume, because she really wanted to hear this speech.
She, this white Southern woman from the suburbs, wanted to hear this speech, delivered by a Black man with a funny name running for President. And she was nodding.
But she wasn't the only one. Folks from the dealership, passing through on their way to and from whatever they do (most of them for not a lot of money) stopped and watch for 3 or 4 minutes. A young mechanic of ambiguous ethnicity stopped by at least a half-dozen times (hours later he stopped me as I was walking to the cashier to pay and said "That was some speech," then paused awkwardly, and said, hushed, "It's good that folks our age are getting involved, I think, right?"). Two salesmen, white, mid-40s, Southern as sweet tea, stopped and watched. And nodded. And I wasn't the only one to stick around to watch the speech after my business at the dealership was done.
Never seen anything like that. I bet a lot of folks in that dealership were Republicans. Most, based on snippets of conversation I heard, were Southerners. Almost all were white. And they watched, listened, and agreed with what Barack Obama was saying about race in America. ....
Read here for the rest of the diary...
Just as some who comment here who've already made up their mind about the man and his minister (after listening to 30 second sound bites of the most inflammatory parts of his speech, I'm sure) or are just plain closed-minded can 't put his speech and ALL it's contents together, in context. This is what I dislike so much about this presidential contest. It's all punditocracy, sound bites, and spin, intent on grabbing the attention of people in 30 seconds or less. Or just appealing to our prejudices...
"What we have here, is failure....to communicate. Some people you just can't reach." --Prison Warden from the movie Cool Hand Luke.
Christ was against the accumulation of wealth and was against violence? (I have all the citations from the Bible at my finger tips about Christ's statements as attributed to him in the Bible).
If MLK was such a bad person - and he talked of the triple interrelated evils of racism, poverty and military imperialism, why would we have a MLK Day declared as a National Holiday?
Reading the Declaration of Independence has gotten people arrested by Homeland Security.
Someone has turned around the U.S. Constitution, the Bible, and the meaning of "un-American."
The Salem Witchcraft trials and the dunking chair are back. The McCarty era has been revived. The ideals of our founders are difficult to attain. The principles of the Bible are ethical and moral aspirations. But why are we allowing these bastards to turn our highest morals, principles, and the rule of law into crap? The poor rednecks and their families will suffer the most for voting for the GOP.
the a sincere man
Bye bye Obama.
Of course, I've been around black men all my life, have never lived through segregation, etc. But I have seen what American economic policies have done to people in this country and around the world. I know what prison culture has done to minority men in this country. I've seen schools in poor neighborhoods of all colors crumbling, and the only thing we throw at them is "No Child Left Behind".
Remember how liberals joked openly about leaving America for Canada after the 2000 and 2004 elections? Isn't that, in essence, saying "Damn America, I'm heading for somewhere else?" How many posters here have stated that they think America is irrevocably mired in the sludge of Bush-Rove policies?
And as a woman, when I blame "old white men" for the glass ceiling, am I not using the same rhetorical quips that Wright has chosen to use?
I am not saying I agree with his racist and divisive speech. I am just saying that it is not really any more shocking or offensive than the stereotypes and reductive soundbytes we all use every day.
I must admit, I did hear that speech and I do remember him saying what he did about his grandmother! And it went right over me until I read another post this morning. I remember cringing as he did, too but for different reasons. And EVEN if that's a true story and it could certainly be true - wouldn't the way to deal with someone so close to you, someone you also say loves you more than anyone, wouldn't it be best not to exploit your own grandmother and instead go to her in private to let her know that she has hurt you? I know he was trying to make a point about his diversity but exploiting his own grandmother to illustrate that point to save his campaign was so unkind, so not thoughtful, and as far as the Presidential campaign shows us he does NOT have GOOD JUDGEMENT. This is yet another example of him ACTING one way (exploiting his grandmother) but saying WORDS (I believe in Peace and Unity) that are the contrary! He has no doubt NOW caused a very hurtful DIVIDE in his family! Wow! To use that point in public against his own grandmother! No doubt, it must have been horrible for him to have to endure that kind of bigotry - racism but CLEARLY and this is relavent to this story - JUST LIKE he said of Rev. Wright - it is clear that Obama also STILL has tremendous ANGER and RESENTMENT towards his grandmother! Why else would anyone exploit their own grandmother in that way?
Did Rove gave you the idea little sheep?
Suggestion for you: send him an email and tell him to get brave and take on another political strategy - stop chesting his cards so close so that the rest of us - looking for someone to SUPPORT - NOT FOLLOW won't have to work so hard trying to figure him out! What the heck he stands for and WHAT is his mindset?
I liked the focus of his speech - a VERY IMPORTANT discussion - but I still don't like what he said about his grandmother! And I also didn't like that he's now in his fifties and he hasn't so far ACTED like a TRUE proactive leader or he would have made this kind of speech a LONG TIME AGO! But maybe he was too busy listening to and FOLLOWING the Rev. Wright!
I hold my breath every time something happens that could loosen that grip. Every time Obama makes a speech that touches something in us...that makes us reach for the best parts of ourselves, the part that knows truth when we hear it. The part that dares to hope. The part that we've turned over to those not worthy.
The petty arguments against Obama since this speech seem so trite, contrived, the last grasp to hold on to power...by those who really wish to do our thinking for us. By those who've we've allowed to do our thinking for us. Being lead along like a bunch of sheep.
Blind patriotism, defined by those with an agenda. Spectators of life rather than participants, consuming more than we need.......feeding the beast....keeping it alive.
It's way past time to shut it down and starve it to death.
Two of the white guys liked the speech, another didn't. The two guys were ridiculing and mocking the third guy just for having a different opinion. Hmm, just like the bullies at the Huffington Post.
Welcome to Obama's Thugocracy.
Welcome to Obama's Thugocracy. Maybe you should practice what your Lord Obama preaches. Maybe you should let go of your true believerism and realize that maybe other Americans have a different opinion than your own.
Nerkami, i truly don't mean this as an insult, but why on earth would you want to let these pundits know how you feel? I would suggest that you bathe yourself from the slime you have experienced. Meditate, pray, cry for humanity that these people with backward logic, upside down morality and a finger on the nuclear button and the cursed "red phone" are leading our nation and the world, teaching our children their values, provoking us into conduct that would not lead us anywhere toward or in the vicinity of the salvation Christians say they are striving and praying to achieve.
Turn them off. Let their hate echo in their own empty heads. Let their immorality lead them to their ultimate fate and let us not be a part of it. Let us communicate even more with our spiritual leadership, what ever your faith may be. If you believe in a God, there has only ever been ONE God. What there has been is a multitude of voices and interpretations. Keep seeking your God through the maze of voices and shut out those vexatious spirits, and you will find the comfort that comes with truth, that these pundits don't understand and as a philosophy don't subscribe to.
Right now, if I could be granted one wish related to the presidential campaign, it would be this -- that every American listen to Obama's speech -- or read the text -- in its entirety, unfiltered by the moronic mainstream media.