Jeremiah Wright

Hillary Clinton has long argued that Barack Obama is so new to politics, so utterly untested, that he is likely to be destroyed by a Republican attack machine that only she has mastered. Because most polls show Obama consistently defeating John McCain, Clinton's only electability argument lies in questioning Obama's...

In bravely and comprehensively addressing the issue of race in America, its history and its persistent and corrosive impact on our society and politics, Barack Obama demonstrated uncommon leadership.

In recent weeks, the Democratic contest had descended into racially-tinged rancor. Comments by former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro...

As I watched Barack Obama confront the circular media firing squad about his relationship with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, I was not angry or judgmental, shocked or apprehensive. Over the past several weeks I have felt that the divisiveness of this presidential race was like a heat-seeking missile searching for...

Barack Obama's speech on race this morning was remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that near-nominees don't discuss race with such frankness and nuance. Of course there's a reason for that.

Here are a few other amazing things from the speech: "I can no...

During the Clinton era, I lost hope in political life because I couldn't stand political language. I grew to despise how people in power used words only to dictate outcomes -- that the gap between experienced truth and the story spoken out loud seemed to grow into a chasm, dark...

Clinton's followers have been insulting Obama supporters for months, denigrating them as 'cultists' and worse, and I pointed out last week that Clinton's followers often behave in cultlike behavior. Now we have the controversy over Rev. Wright. His more objectionable comments about Hillary Clinton can be categorized with those...

Obama's speech just now was magnificent not because he relied on soaring rhetoric but because he eschewed it. He spoke simply and directly about one of the third rails of American politics from his unique vantage point as a black man with white ancestors and the child of an immigrant....

The Reverend Wright homilies were very disturbing, no question.

I thought Barack Obama's speech, which finished just minutes ago, was brilliant, nuanced, healing and shows him to be incredibly worthy as a candidate. I hope America is interested enough in progress to embrace this man. We would be lucky,...

Today we saw and heard a preview of our brightest possible American future in Senator Barack Obama's glorious speech. This, then, is what it means to be presidential. To be moral. To have a real center. To speak honestly, from the heart, for the benefit of all. If there was...

Words matter.

More than any candidate in recent memory, Barack Obama has used the power of rhetoric to ascend to political prominence, prompting his opponents to discount the importance of oratory.

The power of political rhetoric has its limits. As I point out in today's Politico, no one knew...

It has simmered throughout this campaign, and now race has exploded into the center of the media debate about the presidential race. Just when a black political leader is calling us all to a new level of responsibility, hope, and unity; the old and divisive rhetoric of race from both...