The Bee on Obama
Editorial: Obama’s speech moved beyond mere politics
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, March 19, 2008Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
On Tuesday in Philadelphia, Barack Obama delivered the most articulate and profound speech on race in America since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "I have a dream," in 1963.
It's too early to tell whether the speech will defuse the political firestorm that gave rise to it – the incendiary, anti-American remarks made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's friend and spiritual adviser. No doubt Wright's comments will continue to be amplified and distorted by talk radio demagogues, by commentators and politicians, black and white, who have built entire careers exploiting and stoking the fires of racial division.
Obama condemned Wright's words in unequivocal terms, calling them "not only wrong but divisive" and "racially charged." But he refused to abandon Wright, the man who he said "helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another, to care for the sick and lift up the poor."
Then, in a line which will be quoted endlessly in coming weeks, Obama said of his pastor, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me ... but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her on the street and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
In that one phrase Obama uttered a truth that all Americans understand. In the privacy of our homes the different tribes that make up America say unkind things about one another.
Still, it would be a mistake to dismiss this as just a speech about Wright, a masterful response to a potentially fatal challenge to Obama's presidential aspirations. Regardless of what happens in this campaign, this speech will be studied now and in the future for its nuanced picture of race in America today.
Obama refused to allow himself to be enticed into the quicksand of pettiness (and simplification) on race for an election campaign – a pit from which no one ever returns.
In a 40-minute speech, he offered Americans his take on 221 years of American history – its great promise and all of its warts. He showed the roots of both white anger and resentment and black anger and resentment – and how both are equally legitimate and equally limiting. Wright's "profound mistake," Obama said, is that he speaks "as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made."
Obama argued that our refusal for a generation or more to have a genuine conversation about race comes at a cost ("racial stalemate"), and he showed us how we could have such a conversation going forward – in a way that is in keeping with our traditions. The American experiment, he said, is about progress and ongoing struggle for a perfection that we never reach. And he made a call to action with his closing example, for all of us to "narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of our time."
This was not a campaign speech; it was Barack Obama speaking to the ages. Clearly, he has thought about this issue for a very long time. Americans can learn from him, no matter what course the campaign may take.
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Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, March 19, 2008Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
On Tuesday in Philadelphia, Barack Obama delivered the most articulate and profound speech on race in America since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "I have a dream," in 1963.
It's too early to tell whether the speech will defuse the political firestorm that gave rise to it – the incendiary, anti-American remarks made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's friend and spiritual adviser. No doubt Wright's comments will continue to be amplified and distorted by talk radio demagogues, by commentators and politicians, black and white, who have built entire careers exploiting and stoking the fires of racial division.
Obama condemned Wright's words in unequivocal terms, calling them "not only wrong but divisive" and "racially charged." But he refused to abandon Wright, the man who he said "helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another, to care for the sick and lift up the poor."
Then, in a line which will be quoted endlessly in coming weeks, Obama said of his pastor, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me ... but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her on the street and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
In that one phrase Obama uttered a truth that all Americans understand. In the privacy of our homes the different tribes that make up America say unkind things about one another.
Still, it would be a mistake to dismiss this as just a speech about Wright, a masterful response to a potentially fatal challenge to Obama's presidential aspirations. Regardless of what happens in this campaign, this speech will be studied now and in the future for its nuanced picture of race in America today.
Obama refused to allow himself to be enticed into the quicksand of pettiness (and simplification) on race for an election campaign – a pit from which no one ever returns.
In a 40-minute speech, he offered Americans his take on 221 years of American history – its great promise and all of its warts. He showed the roots of both white anger and resentment and black anger and resentment – and how both are equally legitimate and equally limiting. Wright's "profound mistake," Obama said, is that he speaks "as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made."
Obama argued that our refusal for a generation or more to have a genuine conversation about race comes at a cost ("racial stalemate"), and he showed us how we could have such a conversation going forward – in a way that is in keeping with our traditions. The American experiment, he said, is about progress and ongoing struggle for a perfection that we never reach. And he made a call to action with his closing example, for all of us to "narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of our time."
This was not a campaign speech; it was Barack Obama speaking to the ages. Clearly, he has thought about this issue for a very long time. Americans can learn from him, no matter what course the campaign may take.
Unique content, exceptional value. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
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