Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Not Another Race Speech    [Amy Holmes]

So, I just watched Barack Obama's big race speech on YouTube. I haven't yet read or heard any reaction or analysis. So, please forgive me if I repeat what has already been said.

My first reaction? Race speeches are rarely good, and this was no exception. For all of Obama's new talk of change, courage, politics you can believe in, I heard a whole lot of liberal boilerplate dressed up in euphemism and offering no fresh solutions.

He slid by the issue of welfare saying it only may have worsened inner-city poverty. White people need to invest more in our schools and communities, i.e. more money to failing public institutions. White people need to provide "ladders of opportunities," i.e. affirmative action. And black people should feel sympathy for white people who have lost their jobs to overseas competition. Social justice means we have all suffered oppression in one form or another. Therefore, we should bind together, white, black, and brown alike, in our mutual distrust of large corporations. Government, properly directed, can ensure for the welfare of its citizens.

Meanwhile, in an effort to lay blame everywhere, Obama called out his own grandmother for admitting to her, now, not so secret fear of young black male strangers. He said that when he was growing up her remarks sometimes made him cringe. Well, for my part, hearing him compare a woman who sacrificed for his well-being to a pastor who's only benefited from his association made me cringe. Real courage and real candor is Chris Rock standing on stage telling a packed black audience that seeing young black men on dark lonely night near the glow of an ATM can make him feel nervous, too.

So, cutting to the political chase: Where does this leave Obama? Not much better off than where he was 24 hours ago. Pastor Wright has singlehandedly turned Obama into the race candidate. For every person who listened to Obama's speech today are a hundred uncommitted voters who haven't yet seen the video clips and who will be shocked and appalled when they do. He can't spend the rest of his campaign explaining this away. But he can't let the video clips speak for themselves.

It's a mess.

03/18 04:13 PMShare