The Shorter "More Perfect Union" Speech

[akirlu]

Folks over at Daily Kos, and Talking Points Memo worry that Barak Obama's speech about race today will be distorted by sound bites and bad summaries, and that Americans aren't smart enough to see the big picture that Obama has painted for us. They also worry that his allies and supporters won't be able to summarize briefly what he so eloquently said at length.

I can't do anything about CNN or Fox, but for what it's worth I can humbly offer my own shorter version of what Obama had to say today. I'm open to suggestions for making it better, but if anybody feels like they can use it, feel free:

When it comes to race in the United States, we cannot usefully deny where we are, or how we got here, or what a great mixture of personal imperfections and unrealized dreams we carry with us, but we can look forward to something more, something better, and we can do it together.

On the other hand, the very best thing to do is to get people to read or listen to the whole thing for themselves. If they do that, I think this has a chance of being a moment that resonates down through history.

I was also going to point to Oliver Willis' blog here, but something seems to have taken it down. Possibly all the link traffic over from Kos.

Comments

[daystreet.livejournal.com]

I was thinking on my way home that there will be a lot of discussion of whether Obama had "passed" some sort of test in all this when it occurred to me that, actually, given the honesty and straightforwardness of his speech, it isn't Obama that needs to pass any test, it's us.

I've heard a lot of positive coverage of the speech. We'll see how that goes. But I have also heard a lot of stupid remarks from callers and such about how "he wasn't specific enough" or "he didn't answer the questions".

He's put it out there for us. Do you want to discuss this matter honestly, or do you want to continue the bullsh*t? There is a chance we will pass this test. There is also a chance we won't.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

You're right, it is much more a test for us. And there are a lot of ways to duck that test besides ordinary bullshit. We can dwell on our own fears and grievances, that's another way. We can continue to fingerpoint without owning our own shit, that's another way. But I feel like Obama has put a big-ass pointer in the road for us, and I am hopeful that we can see it, and follow it. Not perfectly. Not without stumbles or hitches. But follow as best we can.

Maybe I'm a big ol' sloppy sap for it, but more than at any other point, I feel like this is worth fighting and working for.

[daystreet.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a big ol' sloppy sap for it too, then. I don't think you and I are the only ones though. Yes, it's worth fighting and working for. I'd like to see the world (or, at least America) change itself *this* much in my lifetime. Yeah, I'd like to see that. I have faith that if Yer Average American gets a chance to see/hear/read this speech instead of just settling for Commentary, then most of us will nod and feel something like you and I are feeling.

If you aren't getting "Hardball" out West yet (don't know the MSNBC schedule out there), you might be heartened to know that the commentariat there is in a complete swoon over the speech.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I try to stay away from the televised commentariat, because screaming at the television isn't actually good for my blood pressure or domestic tranquility. But I may actually try to seek out Hardball tonight then. I'm also very, very curious to see what gets over to Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that Stewart plays as much of the speech as he can as a Moment of Zen.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

That would be great. At the very least, I'm hoping he will do a hard, rough, unlubricated take-down of anybody and everybody in the media who's chasing the race-baiting potential of sound-biteology.

[cluefairy-j.livejournal.com]

Jon Stewart dealt with it last night......

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yep, saw it. Funny, but not brilliant. But it was good to see him skewering the heck out of some of the stupider responses to Obama, last night.

[n6tqs.livejournal.com]

I'm going to riff off this, but much seems to have been made about Wright's comments after 11 September 2001, that US foreign policy brought about the feelings that caused the tragedy.

So? I think he was right. Am I so out of touch?

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on which of Wright's comments you mean. I tend to agree with him on the Middle East -- I think the U.S. has been rather too unambiguously pro-Israel in its policies to be plausible as an agent of peace, or justice. On the subject of distributing drugs to the black community and aiding the spread of HIV/AIDS there, I rather think the sin is more one of omission than commission. But in a nation that conducted the Tuskeegee Syphillis study, it's hard to fault some paranoia on the subject.