Obama's Race Speech

[OAKS]

Pretty impressive that he wrote it all himself.

Any guesses on the poll question? Bonus points if you get the year.

[GrizLens]

Brilliant speech. When life gives you lemons...

[UkraineNotWeak]

I thought it was a hateful speech. Who cares if he wrote it? I like a politician with substance, not one who is a wordsmith.

[Dan Wishengrad]

I thought it was a hateful speech. Who cares if he wrote it?

Hateful?!?!?! Did you even listen to the speech, or are you just expressing your own hatred of Senator Obama here? It's truly sad that some folks can't even respect those on the other side of the political aisle and can only react with scorn, derision and hatred.

I like a politician with substance, not one who is a wordsmith.

So are you saying that these traits are mutually exclusive? Isn't a large part of being a good politician the ability to orate, and to inspire the masses? Please give an example of one "with substance" who you do like, and who is not "a wordsmith". I can't think of one -- Democratic, Republican or Independent. Or maybe you are saying the politician of substance is one who only has others write all his or her speeches because he or she isn't able to write for themselves? Please clarify...

PS I believe that Gov. Huckabee wrote most (if not all) of his own campaign speeches, too. Another masterful orator in an era where this has been an otherwise dying art-form. Pretty great to have two such terrific speakers as MB and BO in one campaign, IMHO

[Duffy34]

Vote for McCain...Obama has no experience and will be way over his head if he gets elected. I can respect both sides and I do listen and pay attention to both sets of debates and all that. I also dont think Obama is really himself when he is in front of the camera and anyone who is connected with that RACIST, a-hole pastor is not getting my vote, even if you write your own speeches and "claim" you dont agree with the retarted stuff your pastor said.

[Gvlax]

Vote for McCain...Obama has no experience and will be way over his head if he gets elected. I can respect both sides and I do listen and pay attention to both sets of debates and all that. I also dont think Obama is really himself when he is in front of the camera and anyone who is connected with that RACIST, a-hole pastor is not getting my vote, even if you write your own speeches and "claim" you dont agree with the retarted stuff your pastor said.

Some people still have some growing up to do.

[UkraineNotWeak]

Please give an example of one "with substance" who you do like, and who is not "a wordsmith".

George W. Bush. He may not be a great orator but he sticks to his convictions and is a real man. John McCain is also a man of convictions. He is not associated with America-hating pastors.

[Duffy34]

Vote for McCain...Obama has no experience and will be way over his head if he gets elected. I can respect both sides and I do listen and pay attention to both sets of debates and all that. I also dont think Obama is really himself when he is in front of the camera and anyone who is connected with that RACIST, a-hole pastor is not getting my vote, even if you write your own speeches and "claim" you dont agree with the retarted stuff your pastor said.

Some people still have some growing up to do.

OK...you go vote for someone whos father was an islamic extremest and still thinks he is feeling the racism in America...gimme a break barack, you are running for president!!!! Obama is just mad now and making cushy speeches because he got caught being a member of a white-hating, racist church. Everything that his church stands for is whats wrong in America and people are still going to back him. If he were white and was in a church that stood for white power, white equality, white blah blah blah, he would already have dropped out and would be hated on by people for being a racist and his political career would be over. Our country will become a even bigger target the minute he is elected and pulls the troops out. I think the liberals are the ones who need to grow up and realize this guy is not what we need....

[FLAK]

It's truly sad that some folks can't even respect those on the other side of the political aisle and can only react with scorn, derision and hatred.

Like every every card-carrying hippy liberal towards Bush and the GOP?

[CPLaxGM]

Well, I'm pretty sure at least one person on this thread is being satirical. I think I will just pretend that others are as well.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Please give an example of one "with substance" who you do like, and who is not "a wordsmith".

John McCain is also a man of convictions. He is not associated with America-hating pastors.

No? Didn't Senator McCain recently seek out and get the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, an avowed bigot famous for (among other things) calling the Catholic church "the great whore"? Didn't Sen. McCain then publicly repudiate (sort of) Hagee's most inflammatory and hate-filled rhetoric? If Obama is guilty of being associated with a hate-mongering pastor why does McCain get "a pass"?

Let me speak to the oft-repeated comment posted above also that Sen. Obama is "not qualified" to be President because he is "too inexperienced". This sounds good, all right, but crumbles under it's own absurdity when one examines the historical record.

One of the most experienced men ever to be elected to our highest office was James Buchanan. Buchanan (a Democrat) had a long and distinguished career in public (Congress) and foreign (US Ambassador) service. Yet he ranks as among our worst Presidents ever, allowing the Union to disintegrate as members of the confederacy seceded over states rights and the freedom to own slaves. Buchanan was succeeded in office by Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, and perhaps our greatest President. Lincoln, like Obama, was ridiculed for his inexperience and lack of foreign policy background. Like Obama, Lincoln had only served in the Illinois legislature and and the U.S. Senate. Lincoln's Democratic Presidential opponent in 1860 made the same arguments against Abe that Republicans are now using against Obama. Lincoln was ridiculed by some for his brilliant oratory and for being "all talk", yet it was the brilliance of his public speeches that defined the man and elevated him to his place in history.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation -- a brilliant speech by the way -- as a political tactic to prevent the French and English from entering our Civil War as allies of the Confederacy. And it worked. Lincoln's famous quote was that if he could end the war by freeing all the slaves he would do that, or if he could end the war by freeing some of the slaves he would do that, and if he could end the war and preserve the Union without freeing a single slave he would do that also. It was the brilliance of Lincoln's speeches which inspired the nation and helped us through one of our darkest periods. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address still ranks as maybe our greatest American political speech ever.

Anybody can criticize Senator Obama with justification on a variety of issues, and can oppose him on political grounds. Fair enough. You can certainly vote for Senator McCain -- or anyone else -- based on your own convictions. But anybody who listened to the race speech and can't admit it was brilliant political oration is being intellectually dishonest.

It also bears reminding that our current President purposely addressed his own inexperience by choosing two men -- Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield -- to bring extensive foreign policy experience to his administration. And we have all seen what all that "experience" has led us to. This election will be exactly whether we want to stay the course and continue Bush's policies en toto, or to go in a new direction. Cheney and McCain were just in Iraq together pledging that we would be staying there indefinitely. America will decide soon enough if we will follow the vast experience and shared wisdom of our VP and presumptive GOP nominee.

[2fat2play]

For those who choose to think like Duffy34: Please read Obama's speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday (the text is available online if you google for it); please read history, the history of America and the history of black America; please read Fanon or Richard Wright.

As for liberals attacking Bush, even intelligent, well-read Republicans understand the grave atrocities the Bush administration was waged against sovereign countries and against our own civil liberties, judicial system, and public institutions.

It's all there for the public to read, it's just a matter of whether or not we want to.

[Sonny]

I do think it is extremely hypocritical when Obama calls for the resignation of folks like Geraldine Ferrero and Don Imus yet refused to divest himself from Reverend Wright and the Church. We are supposed to believe that he just recently heard these words when he has been a member of that church for 20 years. He wrote about him in his books & Rev. Wright proceeded over his marriage and children's baptisms?

Right..... His ridiculous sermons are all over YouTube. Can't get Pandora back in that box.

Can you say double standard? I can....

Can you say he is lying? Let the American electorate decide. (This doesn't apply to Dem. voters in the states of Michigan or Florida until after the DNC.)

[UkraineNotWeak]

Here's my thought: I don't think Obama even goes to this church regularly, let alone any church. It is a ruse. If he says he doesn't go to church, he is viewed as being anti-religion, so he has to associate with some church. He chose poorly by associating himself with this church and pastor however...it doesn't matter how many times he has been there, or if he is a regular attendee.

[Hugh Nunn]

Wouldn't it just be wonderful if we were allowed to choose the candidate that we as voters feel most qualified to lead us without being told why we must fear NOT voting for a particular candidate? Wouldnt it be great if this posturing weren't already taking place?

Imagine.