About That Speech

Finally with some time to listen, watch, and read ....

My first thought is this: the fact that Obama is having to deliver this speech merely proves that the dream of a post-partisan moment in American politics is but a myth. Obama himself found himself caught up in a hyper-partisan shot. And it's just the primary elections so far. Wait until the GOP machinery gets a clearer shot at him.

Secondly, there's this: the act of giving a speech itself may well be enough to satiate many - including several who may have been put off by Rev. Wright's statements. That, at a minimum, speaks to the thirst that is there for something akin to a post-partisan moment.

As for myself, I'm a tad older than your average blogger and have been politically active and cognizant since my teens. I just feel like I've seen this played out before. There's nothing I see in Obama's speech that justifiably washes his hands of the moment before him.

To his credit, he didn't throw Wright under the bus (I'm fully with Drum on this one). Also like Drum, I think his handling of the Samantha Power dustup was a misstep on his part. Power's a bright thinker who simply let her tongue get ahead of her a few times too many. And while that may, at once, display the very weakness inherent in the campaign's strength, Power's voice is one that deserves to be heard in the formation of American foreign policy - particularly as it involves issues of genocide.

It may just be harder to walk away from your pastor - hence Obama's approach. If there's one aspect of Obama's ordeal that I can relate to, it's that we who sit in pews and take copious notes from podcasts of sermons around the nation, if not globe ... it's that listening for the wisdom in someone you don't fully agree with is not something unheard of. If the very people who were offended by the Wright statements were merely people who never got discomfort from statements by pastors at church ... then it's clear to me they don't go to church enough. The nature of the discontent may be different - and understandably remain a negative knock on Obama in the minds of some.

Unfortunately, it's possibly not the church-going that are the most offended. It's the politically-inclined class - a decidedly, and sometimes admittedly, areligious group. The irony, however, is that the very outrage they stir up only underscores my initial point, that there is no and will be no post-partisan moment to celebrate.

That said, if you already believe in the Obama Movement, chances are you heard the speech - or part of it, or reports of a speech - and that's enough to satisfy you. For me, the speech itself is a bit too much. There's snippets of pop culture and standard political history that abound: the OJ Simpson trial, Brown v Board of Education, Geraldine Ferraro, and so on. As if all this helps us transcend the current state of politics with our Obamanaut friends. They may faithfully believe that Obama has truly transcended this issue. But it's not just this issue that will be lobbed in Obama's direction. There will be others. And the impact of a fanciful speech will reach the point of diminishing returns.