WP editorial, Moment of Truth: Barack Obama squarely addresses the issue of race.

[DeepModem Mom]

Moment of Truth
Prompted by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama squarely addresses the issue of race.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008; Page A14

SEN. BARACK Obama's mission in Philadelphia yesterday was to put the controversy over inflammatory statements made by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., his spiritual mentor and pastor for 20 years, behind him. But Mr. Obama (D-Ill.) went deeper than that. He used his address as a teachable moment, one in which he addressed the pain, anger and frustration of generations of blacks and whites head-on -- and offered a vision of how those experiences could be surmounted, if not forgotten. It was a compelling answer both to the challenge presented by his pastor's comments and to the growing role of race in the presidential campaign.

Mr. Obama discussed what he knew about the Rev. Wright's views more frankly than before. "Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course," the senator said. "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely. . . . " He went on to say that the comments weren't just controversial, "they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with American above all that we know is right with America."

Yet Mr. Obama didn't condemn the Rev. Wright even as he rejected his rhetoric. Instead, he placed the 66-year-old pastor into historical context: "For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years." He added, "But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."

Mr. Obama then described the resentment among some whites over affirmative action, busing, crime and a shrinking job base, saying those feelings also "are grounded in legitimate concerns." He talked about the need for whites to recognize the lingering problem of racial discrimination -- and for blacks to embrace the "quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-help."

Mr. Obama's speech was an extraordinary moment of truth-telling. He coupled it with an appeal that this year's campaign not be dominated by distorted and polarizing debates about whether he or his opponents agree with extreme statements by supporters -- or other attempts to divide the electorate along racial lines. Far better, he argued, that Americans of all races recognize they face common economic, social and security problems....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031802704.html?nav=hcmodule

[Cha]

1. Great, OP ED from the

Washington Post! So that's three big papers across the country having an op ed that praises Obama's speech for what it is..that's helpful.

[Sherril]

2. The Speech

It was an interesting but somewhat late admission that Obama
made about the controversial remarks.  But the unanswered
question is What remarks had he heard.  Wright saying that the
US had invented Aids as a means of genocide against people of
color?  Or that America was morally responsible for 9/11
because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, among other crimes.I guess
Pearl Harbor was a fake!  Obama then asks, "There will no
doubt be those for whom my statements are not enough.  Why
associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place? Why not
join another church?  No the real question is why didn't he?
It is not just the older church members who stand up cheering
and roaring in wild approval of Wright's rants.  It is young
people as well.  Why did you give $22,500 2 years age a church
 run by a man of the past that infects the youth of today with
racial attributes you say you've come to transcend?  And why
would you let your children be exposed to the divisiveness of
an old man from the past?  Those are the unanswered questions
you didn't ask yourself, Obama.  
Why would anyone believe or trust you when you can't make a
decision to stop the racial bigotry and hate in you own back
year?