Speaking truth To Power

This is such a great speech. I hope everyone gets a chance to see/hear/read it. I have been trying to compose a blog entry for the past couple of days regarding the feeding frenzy the right has been on for the past week regarding Reverend Wright. I couldn't get it published before this speech - which turns out to be moot because he just answered his critics loudly and clearly. I think this was the first real test of his leadership abilities and direction and he passed with flying colors. (no pun, really)

The "Power" I'm referring to in the title is the megaphone of intolerance and deception that Conservatives and/or the Right have established - including most significantly (IMHO) talk radio. For the past week AM radio has been non stop Rev. Wright and linking snippets of his often incendiary sermons to Senator Obama. Unlike Senator Kerry in 2004, Senator Obama has the foresight to speak directly to these issues. Thankfully Senator Obama didn't "move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork" as Senator Kerry did. If Senator Kerry had fought back more effectively against the swift boaters at the heart of their argument - which party (and which presidential candidate) really has the best interests of the military and the country at heart. The choice was so clear - a man who served incredibly honorably in Vietnam, or a man who has a sketchy military past barely serving time in a unit that never left the U.S.. This was George Bushes greatest weakness and Kerry allowed the Swift Boaters to flip it around.


It seems from this speech that Senator Obama gets it. Politics is more that just a battle of quips, it is a battle of different opinions of right and wrong and not only does this speech illustrate his masterful ability to express his opinions, it also demonstrates his ability to fight for what he believes. One of the common memes going around in conservative radio (and Senator Clinton's campaign) right now is that Senator Obama is an empty suit with great orator skills. What has he really done? Well here is one thing he has done. In one stroke he has changed the national debate (or at least he should have if I turn out to be wrong). He has flipped the rhetoric around, deflating the narration of the Right and allowing us ("U" "S") to begin to work on the "legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality."

No doubt the new spin has already begun. But as long as Senator Obama continues to respond to the major issues of the Right in such a positive manner while maintaining focus on his own initiatives - the future seems bright for his aspirations as well as us ("U" "S").

A couple random thoughts about the speech:

• Is anyone else from Gen X feeling like this is finally our chance to have our voices heard? Moving on from the battles that so sharply divided the country and our culture in the late sixties and have left a discernible rift in our politics ever since?
• Also, perhaps related, I appreciated his appreciation of what he calls a conservative notion - self help. (I would quibble with this, but do admit that conservatives sell this a lot harder than liberals)

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Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons.

This guy is for real. I am stoked.