Obama: "A More Perfect Union"
Mar. 18th, 2008 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
topazBarack Obama gave his much-anticipated speech on race this morning. If you haven't read or seen it, you should. The performance is a little less than 40 minutes, and if you can take the time I recommend it strongly.
Transcript and audio are available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88481254.
Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU.
I expected something along these lines: a repudiation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments without actually denouncing the man himself. It was understood that was what he had to do in order to handle this issue plausibly. The man is nothing if not a master rhetoritician, so I expected nothing less.
And yet we got so much more. It is absolutely a stunning, riveting speech, the likes of which I do not think I have heard given in my lifetime. According to the Atlantic Monthly's Marc Ambinder, he wrote it entirely by himself in the last two days. I am honestly not sure whether to believe that without knowing Ambinder's source --- it is extraordinary in this day and age for a politician to write such a crucial speech on such a pivotal issue without significant input from their communications specialists. But Obama is an extraordinary candidate (and I do not think you have to support him in order to agree with that).
It mystifies me to hear people say that while he's a great public speaker, that doesn't prove he's up to the job of President. A speech like this is not about his ability to implement policy; it's about his ability to communicate very sensitive and personal issues of faith, in the tense and sensitive context of racial demagoguery. It's about his ability to navigate the treacherous landscape of racial conflict in a country where that is arguably the defining cultural milestone. This speech only presents more evidence that Obama is better equipped to do that than anyone we have seen in a generation.
Are our national leaders not supposed to be expert communicators, persuaders, and negotiators? I think that they are. Not for nothing was Ronald Reagan called "The Great Communicator" (and while I am no fan of Ronald Reagan I can hardly deny that the label was deserved). And not for nothing have people been calling Obama the Democrats' Ronald Reagan.
This address is still ringing in my ears. I wonder if, years from now, people will be talking about the "Ashley speech" as a turning point in American politics.
Transcript and audio are available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88481254.
Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU.
I expected something along these lines: a repudiation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments without actually denouncing the man himself. It was understood that was what he had to do in order to handle this issue plausibly. The man is nothing if not a master rhetoritician, so I expected nothing less.
And yet we got so much more. It is absolutely a stunning, riveting speech, the likes of which I do not think I have heard given in my lifetime. According to the Atlantic Monthly's Marc Ambinder, he wrote it entirely by himself in the last two days. I am honestly not sure whether to believe that without knowing Ambinder's source --- it is extraordinary in this day and age for a politician to write such a crucial speech on such a pivotal issue without significant input from their communications specialists. But Obama is an extraordinary candidate (and I do not think you have to support him in order to agree with that).
It mystifies me to hear people say that while he's a great public speaker, that doesn't prove he's up to the job of President. A speech like this is not about his ability to implement policy; it's about his ability to communicate very sensitive and personal issues of faith, in the tense and sensitive context of racial demagoguery. It's about his ability to navigate the treacherous landscape of racial conflict in a country where that is arguably the defining cultural milestone. This speech only presents more evidence that Obama is better equipped to do that than anyone we have seen in a generation.
Are our national leaders not supposed to be expert communicators, persuaders, and negotiators? I think that they are. Not for nothing was Ronald Reagan called "The Great Communicator" (and while I am no fan of Ronald Reagan I can hardly deny that the label was deserved). And not for nothing have people been calling Obama the Democrats' Ronald Reagan.
This address is still ringing in my ears. I wonder if, years from now, people will be talking about the "Ashley speech" as a turning point in American politics.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 11:05 pm (UTC)