OK, so I finally listened to the Obama speech

[doc03]

It would have been a wonderful speech if not done in the response to the Rev. Wright video. I thought he done very well in explaining the racial problems in the US and why people feel the way they do. One big problem I have with it though is when the Rev. Wright video first made the MSM he denied ever hearing him speak that way, then in his speech he acknowledged that he had heard Rev. Wright use such inflammatory speech that he and other people found objectionable. So his first instinct was like every other politician, to lie, then when faced with the possibility that there may be proof come out later showing that he was aware of Rev. Wright's video he made his speech.

[NYCGirl]

1. Obama never said he didn't hear any controversial language, but that he

hadn't heard those particular sermons. He was quite clear about that.

[GarbagemanLB]

4. EXACTLY. He always stated 'those specific comments', and considering all those 'controversial'

comments were taken from 3 sermons (out of the 17 years he was there), it isn't hard to believe him.

[doc03]

13. I never heard him say exactly what specific comments

he agreed or disagreed with. He sort of left that to our own interpretation.

[doc03]

10. Yes, maybe he wasn't present for those sermons

but he was also covering his butt just in case it came out later that he actually was there at those times or other times when Rev. Wright talked like that. One of the first things I remember was one of the pundits on TV saying he may regret that statement in the future if it's proven he was there. I have to give him credit for coming out with a clever preemptive strike in case something does come out later.

[LordJFT]

25. exactly

He wasn't at the sermons sermons that were being played on the media

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. The great speeches (JFK, MLK, & so on) weren't made in response

to a scandal & had original content. His speech was a sales pitch.

[Drachasor]

12. You're joking, right?

Great speeches are almost always in response to a pressing political need. What makes them great is that they focus on a larger problem in society beyond that need. JFK's is obvious, and MLK's was in response to the pains of segregation. Those speeches would not be famous if the public had not be focused on the smaller issues involved, for those issues gave the speaker the ability to speak about a much larger issue.

[The_Casual_Observer]

15. The Wright thing was certainly a pressing political problem for Obama,

however, it hardly qualifies as the basis of a social movement.

[Drachasor]

20. Was JFK's catholicism somehow different?

Seriously, there, at the very least, seems to be a double-standard here. The real core of the Wright issue speaks to a tremendous disconnect between whites and blacks, and in general between ethnicities. Just like the core of JFK's problem was about the separation between Church and State. MLK had the advantage of a much more apparent problem, whereas JFK and Obama had to use a smaller crisis to speak on a greater one. It is when something reaches the point of a political crisis, that these speeches can be said, because before that (especially in the modern world, imho) they just won't get the coverage needed, nor will people be willing to acknowledge the problem.

A great speech is more than writing, it is a time and a place in history that allow for that speech to be made.

[The_Casual_Observer]

21. Utterly different.

This thing was running for cover from "God Damn America!"

[Drachasor]

26. Is that the only reason you think it is different?

Because people thought Kennedy would owe allegiance to the Pope, which is a scandal of its own and not that dissimilar.

[doc03]

16. Oh boy, you may need that gasmask and

a kevlar vest.

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. As the days go by many of the real pundits have come to the same

conclusion more or less.

[femmedem]

3. No, he's been consistent.

He has said that he wasn't there when Wright delivered the sermons you've seen clips of. I don't believe he's ever said he never heard anything controversial from Wright.

[gcomeau]

5. Innacurate

Obama was very clear from the beginning.

1. He HAD heard his pastor make "controversial statements".
2. He had NOT heard him make the kind of completely over the top statements like those that popped up on the internet until the reporting uncovered them.

He never lied, he never avoided. I watched his appearances on the various news shows immediately after the story broke and before he made the speech and he was entirely consistent in what he said there.

[Rageneau]

6. Quote me the lines from that speech that will live forever.

If Obama's speech was so great, what were the great, quotable lines from it that school kids will be reciting in 50 years?

If you can't cite any, then maybe it wasn't such a hot speech after all.

[Texas Hill Country]

14. i agree, great lecture in the academic sense, horrible speech.

[gcomeau]

22. Ugh...

If you can't conveniently sound-bite it it's not great?

Is that not the exact attitude that has been screwing all of us over for so very long? Nobody should be required to have an attention span? It doesn't need a "great quotable line"... it was a great quotable address. In totality.

[Liberal Veteran]

24. Makes you wonder if all the great speeches at the time were moving but not memorable.

I wonder if people listening to Gettysburg Address were thinking more about the content of Lincoln's speech than thinking, "Damn, that 'fourscore and seven years ago' line was right on?

Or if people were like running around going "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"!

Probably history will pick out the line this speech will be known for our time by repetition in the media.

[Rageneau]

28. No, great speeches are ALWAYS moving and memorable and full of good quotes.

The Gettysburg Address, for example, contains these lines, among other good uns:

...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Where in Obama's supposedly tremendous speech are any lines that are anywhere near as moving as those?

In fact, where in Obama's speech are any lines that aren't pedestrian and self-serving?

[Adelante]

7. He did not lie

He was talking about the specific statements being aired then. He's said before and since that he'd had disagreements in the past with Rev. Wright on other statements.

As for Rev. Wright's "inflammatory" speech that seems to have concerned you, you may be interested in reading Anderson Cooper's blog entry of a few days ago:

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/

[Blue_State_Elitist]

8. I agree completely.

It is the type of speech an activist or president should give, not a politician trying to save their own campaign.

[GarbagemanLB]

11. So you're saying that speech was presidential? AGREED! Go Obama!

[Texas Hill Country]

17. he is saying that it was topical, but not inspiring or memorable, not a "great speech"

[parasim]

9. No, he didn't say he had never heard him speak that way...

he said he had not heard the particular statements that were endlessly looped on national television in any sermon he had attended.

As for his speech, to me, it was like he said to the media, ok, you want to talk about race, let's talk about race. And he delivered a speech that was from the heart. Perhaps he was always planning on such a speech anyway at some point, but felt the need to do it now, because the media wouldn't let up on this inane mischaracterization of his feelings about the race issue.

[doc03]

19. I agree he did say he wasn't present during

those specific sermons (if that's what you call them). But he also said he disagreed with some of Rev. Wrights statements, but never said which ones. So he cleverly covered his butt so in the future if more videos come out he can say, Oh, that's one of the ones I don't agree with. Talk about Slick Willy old Bill has nothing on Obama not to mention the Teflon coating..

[DearAbby]

23. again...you have not heard Wright's sermon

you have based your judgment on the 6 minute looped hatchet job. High-tech character assassination, of Rev. Wright. Hatchet job created by Hannity.
have you been Hannitized?

What is really disgusting, you bringing that Hannitized crap onto DU.

[Uzybone]

27. It was a political speech

Nothing more nothing less. If Obama is not the next president no one will remember it a year from now.