Obama's Race Speech
I think this paragraph from Jonah Goldberg of National Review is a tidy summation of my feelings on what some have called "one of the finest speeches ever."
Why do voluptuaries of racial argy-bargy want yet another such dialogue? For some, it’s to avoid actually dealing with unpleasant facts. But for others — like La Raza or the college professors scrambling to follow Obama’s lead — when they say we need more conversation, they really mean their version of reality should win the day. Replace “conversation” with “instruction” and you’ll have a better sense of where these people are coming from and where they want their “dialogue” to take us.
Ultimately, Obama's speech is nothing so momentous, so awe-inspiring. In fact, Obama's refusal to distance himself personally as well as professionally from the man who condemned America in no uncertain terms while giving an award to real hate-mongers like Louis Farrakhan is troubling. Is it weakness of character, which might be forgivable, or is it that Mr. Obama finds the words of his pastor not particularly offensive?
One thing I think we can agree upon is that the President of the United States cannot be too patriotic. He is not only our leader in matters foreign and domestic, he is also America's preeminent spokesman. When a man tolerates sentiments such as Jeremiah Wright's and refuses for years to repudiate them, that man is demonstrating a quality that no President should possess.
Is Obama's speech really a call to dialogue? That remains to be seen. Currently, it amounts to nothing more than a grand changing of the subject.
Comments
The Speech was trivial, presumptuous, and a half century too late. I don't know about you, but not only do I not want to talk about race, I don't even want to hear about it. No one in America is being held back because of skin color today, and I could care less that enormously more blacks than I could ever have imagined think they are.
Not to mention that The Speech was an evasion of the actual issue, and the nerve he has to think he could tell me something about race that I don't know better than he does. Of course, he doesn't really seek understanding, does he... just more tax money.
BAM!
KA-POW!
Right on Ted, and it worked like a charm. Not only are we not blasting him for sticking with Wright, we are applauding him. America went for the feint and has apparently decided that Hillary is more fun to pick on.
It occurs to me that even if Obama should win the highest office in the land, it would not be a salve on the wounds suffered by black people. They would, I am sure, continue to persist in our current mode of thinking. One thing I didn't notice from Obama is any talk of dropping the culture of victimhood. Perhaps because they have leaders such as Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al.
Also, I enjoyed your capitalization of The Speech.
Not only will an Obama presidency not heal anything, we see now that it will be an invitation to black to seek even greater "'redress." And worse, we can now imagine that Obama will not only welcome that but get behind it with his full power and authority.
I want to say that I am so really glad you're addressing some of this because I wasn't kidding when I said there was so much to deal with on the matter that I hardly know where to start. I must have a half dozen pieces "in development" that I just haven't had time to finish before some new consideration comes up.
And thanks for being so kind to me, but I've shortchanged you a bit simply because I have so many things going on this, and thus I can't do a lot of "my best stuff" in a comment.
I soured on Scarborough long ago, not to mention that I think his ratings are half of what Imus had.
I want to take a moment to give my wife credit for, I think, improving my term. I told her about calling it "The Speech," because it was, you know, quite simply the greatest human utterances since language was invented, and she said that she thought "Da Speech" was more respectful of his circumstances and heritage.