March 18, 2008
The Speech
It had been getting old. It was becoming mocked. Barack Obama’s most notable attribute, being one of the country’s greatest inspirational speakers, had been turned into a negative. It was becoming vogue to refer to him as “the chosen one,” and the majority of the media was relentlessly tearing apart even the most minor transgressions. Then he lived up to his reputation, making a speech that may come to be known as his version of “I have a dream,” of “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” or “Ask what you can do for this country.” And he got people swooning again.
Frankly, I cannot write an objective take on the speech, so instead I’ll turn to how the rest of the media is responding to it, which realclearpolitics has neatly aggregated, to show its impact. I suggest you read/watch the speech first so you don’t get influenced by the media.
“This searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching, loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian speech is the most honest speech on race in America in my adult lifetime. It is a speech we have all been waiting for for a generation. Its ability to embrace both the legitimate fears and resentments of whites and the understandable anger and dashed hopes of many blacks was, in my view, unique in recent American history.”
– Andrew Sullivan
“But Obama did not do the politically “smart” thing. He did the right thing. And that is why his campaign will weather this storm.”
– The Nation
“Although Obama’s speech is not without its evasions, I consider it a courageous one by usual political standards.”
– Paul Mirengoff
“Barack Obama’s unusual campaign has just led to one of the most unusual speeches in American political history. The purpose of the speech is to set his own political controversy into the largest possible context and to zoom out, as it were, and make it appear as though the disgusting remarks of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, are the merest speck, a mere glancing moment in time in the centuries-long history of American race relations.”
– John Podhoretz
“It was, as usual for him, a helluva good address: intelligent, sane, sympathetic, and broadly appealing”
– Kevin Drum, Washington Monthly
“I suspect that it will be praised far and wide in over-the-top terms. I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a commentator on the left who will criticize it.”
– Jim Geraghty
“This speech was something I didn’t expect: Honest. It was honest about Obama’s affection for Wright, even as it repudiated Wright’s comments. It was honest about the tragic history of race in America, even as it expressed faith in a redemptive future. It was honest about the resentment peddlers and racial charlatans who try and recast the increasing rarity of the American Dream as the consequence of ethnic competition rather than gross power imbalances. It was honest in its recognition that racial memory influences contemporary thought, honest in admitting that there’s anger in this country, and it’s justified, and that there’s fear in this country, and it’s real.”
– Erza Klein, American Prospect
“We won’t know for awhile how voters view Barack Obama’s speech today on race relations but The Brody File saw it as a HUGE positive for Obama and a successful turning point for the future of his campaign”
– Dave Brody, CBN
For those who are too lazy to watch or read the speech, it, rather than dancing around the issue, delves full on into the issue of race in this nation without pointing any fingers or playing the blame game. It deals with Reverend Wrights comments in a nuanced, rather than superficial and political, way, repudiating what Wright said, while also stressing Wright being philanthropist and humanitarian.
Time will tell what the significance of this speech will be, but it is a turning point in the campaign. We all know how the media likes to make everything that’s happening currently “historic” and “unprecedented,” and the Muse predicts that, when the chips fall, the main stream media will come out with the general opinion that the speech was one of the defining moments of the campaign.
And that’s the Muse.
Why is so much bandwidth being spent on regurgitated CNN watching? There is nothing original about the Muse, I can read all this stuff in Newsweek. It looks like vanity press to me, acres of net ink being spilt by a pretentious teenager. Who gave this guy a mandate to take over your site??
Albany parent is the perfect name for this last guy ( yes it’s definitely a guy!) since so many Albany parents are blind to the forest of inquiry and learning and only see the trees of AP classes, UC applications and marching lockstep toward being a bitter, miserable middle-aged man. I’m personally blown away that a high school kid displays this level of passion and knowledge in the electoral process and impressed that the teachers have given him a forum. If people don’t want to read it, don’t click it on
( duh!). Maybe there is another equally motivated and enthusiastic student who can write a self-help column for parents with sticks up their asses. Keep on encouraging your students to think and express themselves, Albany teachers – you have to combat the harm being done by parents like this one – a man who clearly needs a hobby.
Jesus,
Albany parent, you are truly pathetic. You have nothing better to do than dis some talented and perceptive young man who has the skill, energy, critical thinking, writing gift and interest to keep a lively and compelling forum going. another albany is right -get a hobby, or prep your loser kid for more meaningless practice SATs, or find some nice porn site to distract you. Oh, and CNN truly does regurgitate mainstream media pap but a schmuck like you wouldn’t know the difference. Go spam a Fox news blog, weasel.
Albany Parent – I appreciate your commenting, though I believe it would serve you well to display the maturity expected of a parent. I write this much because I’m willing to write this much. Anybody who wanted to write this often for the cougar could if they wanted to. This column is really intended as a guide for those who want to better their knowledge of the political race. There are over 400 students at Albany high who will be able to vote in November, and I believe that it’s rather important to make sure they know how they’re voting.
Wow, you guys are extreme. You have no idea who or what I know about the Muse, the paper, etc. I wonder if you even waded through each one of the Muse’s articles or are just giving a knee-jerk reaction to what you think is an attack on a precious, brilliant Albany student.
I was once in the Muse’s shoes, as an award-winning student newspaper editor writing for a good paper, under a great mentor. Mr. Purdom’s decision not to edit you guys is his to make, but don’t you just wonder if there aren’t others thinking the same as I?
It’s admirable to encourage writing and expression. But I repeat, this is tiresome and florid writing from a single viewpoint that is not very original.
How about some other voices from the Cougar staff? How about straw polls, man-on-the-street (from within the student population) on these topics?
How about an editor to trim it down to encourage others to read it? Long net articles are quite often discouraging and go unread. You might take a clue from how many other comments are posted following the stories (besides this one).
Sorry you cannot take criticism. The most polite response was from the Muse himself, though his comment on maturity is quite arrogant. It is mature to try and get students to see beyond their narrow self-centeredness. And I encourage him to look at his own writing and see if excess verbiage cannot be trimmed.
Good luck.
p.s. filling up an article with other people’s quotes is not brilliant writing either. Taking one quote, and working it for meaning would be more interesting.
Dear “Albany parent,”
If your commentary consisted of constructive criticism (e.g., “your third paragraph should be trimmed” or “instead of using five quotes, trying using three and really tearing them apart,”) your comments would be useful and have credibility.
But that’s not what you’ve been writing. Instead, you’ve been making condescending ad hominem attacks on someone one-third your age. This sure makes it look like you’re either a) unhappy because it’s not your kid who’s writing this blog or b) you’re jealous of someone who is demonstrating more promise than you had when you were in high school.
Please stop trying to make yourself feel better about whatever is wrong in your life by tearing down other people.