Sunday, March 23, 2008
At Last!--Obama Addresses Race Relations
I was so impressed with Obama's "more perfect union" speech last week. It's what I was looking for back in January (see "Racism the Opiate of the People?" below). At last, he has really given an audacious message of hope (sorry--couldn't resist) that our country might be able to rise above the self-destructive race stasis we've been in, rather than just cycling through the same rhetoric and not getting anywhere.
There were some disappointments in the speech--he could have gone further than he did, I think (not in terms of denouncing Wright--I think he handled that just fine, unlike some other folks), and if he'd been more concise, he'd probably have reached (and touched) more people (though it seems that people are paying attention). And, some commentators have suggested he was somewhat disingenuous about Geraldine Ferraro's comment, especially the way he kept referencing it.
But, overall--inspiring and powerful. That was the Obama we saw at the last Democratic convention, and the one that has seemed (to me at least) to be MIA since the campaign started.
So, I'm starting to feel okay that he's pulling ahead of Hillary (though, this seems to be a big speed bump for him). It would really make me happy still if they were running mates. OK, so she won't be at the top of the ticket--all right, we'll have a woman president later. I can deal. But, they have to be careful not to knock each other too hard if that's going to work. We'll have to wait and see, I reckon!
I was so impressed with Obama's "more perfect union" speech last week. It's what I was looking for back in January (see "Racism the Opiate of the People?" below). At last, he has really given an audacious message of hope (sorry--couldn't resist) that our country might be able to rise above the self-destructive race stasis we've been in, rather than just cycling through the same rhetoric and not getting anywhere.
There were some disappointments in the speech--he could have gone further than he did, I think (not in terms of denouncing Wright--I think he handled that just fine, unlike some other folks), and if he'd been more concise, he'd probably have reached (and touched) more people (though it seems that people are paying attention). And, some commentators have suggested he was somewhat disingenuous about Geraldine Ferraro's comment, especially the way he kept referencing it.
But, overall--inspiring and powerful. That was the Obama we saw at the last Democratic convention, and the one that has seemed (to me at least) to be MIA since the campaign started.
So, I'm starting to feel okay that he's pulling ahead of Hillary (though, this seems to be a big speed bump for him). It would really make me happy still if they were running mates. OK, so she won't be at the top of the ticket--all right, we'll have a woman president later. I can deal. But, they have to be careful not to knock each other too hard if that's going to work. We'll have to wait and see, I reckon!
