posted in full at Nation-Building.
It’s a wonderful speech, that calls all of America together and repudiates the race card even as it insists that the grievances of black America – and white America – are founded in legitimate concerns. It repudiates the anger of Black America as expressed by Rev. Wright but refuses to disown him in a cynical political ploy. It truly is what America needs to hear.
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I’ve been trying hard to find the speech on YouTube. It looks like it was posted and then pretty much immediately made unavailable, not sure why…
It is a magnificent speech by the way. Although there are parts I would quibble with, the comparisons to Kennedy that are often evoked by Obama fans are fully on display here.
I particularly liked this part:
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working–and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience–as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
That was a brave thing to say, but it’s something that should be said a lot more often.
He had to give the speech of his life, and I think he delivered.
Inv A. DeSoda’s last blog post..Rev. G. D. America
The explicit attack on zero sum thinking is going to be _the_ key to his appeal. Indeed, thinking that “we” can solve any problem is the strength of the Democratic party, and the foundation of its philosophy. I am very pleased to see a Democratic candidate express those values and make it part of his stump…
Punning Pundit’s last blog post..Libertarians don’t know economics, part something of an ongoing series…
he went from “i never heard anything like that” to “yes, i was in the pews”
lying is shown to be a pattern now.
too bad. nice guy in a lot of ways
urthshu,
unless you subscribed to the idea that he was ever anything but a politician, i don’t see how that revelation should surprise you, let alone change your thinking.
no, it doesn’t surprise me, zach.
Uh, I’m not sure I see where you’re coming from. Saying you’ve heard him occasionally say things you strongly disagree with is not the same as saying you’ve heard those exact words before, is it?
Seems to me that it was just an appeal to put aside racist demagoguery so that people can properly focus on anti-corporate demagoguery.
Not impressed.
Dave Justus’s last blog post..Interesting profile
“Did I Hear Comments That Might Be Considered Controversial? Yes.”
“might be considered?”
Dean: you talking to me?
… distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze � a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.
I’d like to offer an alternative explanation:
The sum total of human wealth and capability is finite, and less than we wish it to be.
Some would prefer to have a larger slice of the same pie. I’d prefer to have a larger pie.
There is a limit to the maximum size of the pie, of course, but it’s so far beyond where we’re at that it’s irrelevant.
I agree with “Justus”; at the end of the day, this is a call to move beyond racial issues so we can focus on “middle class” handouts powered by higher taxes on “the rich”. No matter your color, you can be welcomed in Obama’s movement as long as you’re willing to lose your “cynicism” and trust the government.
It’s actually quite in line with a lot of leftists of the “what’s the matter with Kansas” type.
foobarista’s last blog post..The Obama Bubble, and the Dot-Coms…
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