There were a lot of inspirational parts to Barack Obama’s speech, but he gave the speech to solve a political problem. And, on that front, I think his most effective rhetoric came in the following passage.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina – or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”
The reason I think this is effective is that does two important things. First, it appeals to our better angels and speaks the truth to us in a direct way. Second, it makes anyone that wants to harp on Rev. Wright for the remainder of the campaign seem small, petty, and stridently political. This won’t stop those that are unapologetically political, but it will exact a price on everyone else. I can say firsthand that the press buzz after the speech was positive. With the exception of a few assholes, the mainstream press is going to back off of the pastor story as a result of Obama’s speech. Fortunately for the quality of our public discourse, John McCain seems disinclined to pursue this line of attack.
HANNITY: He’s been — but he’s been going to the church for 20 years. His pastor — the church gave a lifetime achievement award to one of the biggest racists and anti-Semites in the country, Louis Farrakhan. Would you go to a church that — where your pastor supported Louis Farrakhan?
MCCAIN: Obviously, that would not be my choice. But I do know Sen. Obama. He does not share those views.
And we get sometimes — I don’t — a lot of those statements I’ve just heard for the first time that you mentioned. But I know that, for example, I’ve had endorsements of some people that I didn’t share their views…
HANNITY: Pastor Hagee recently, yes.
MCCAIN: … but they endorsed mine. And so I think we’ve got to be very careful about that part.
From a purely political point of view, then, I think the speech accomplished what it set out to do. I have noted that a lot of progressives are unhappy with the portion of the speech that dealt with Israel. That’s a legitimate criticism. However, after African-Americans, conservative Jews were the most noticeable members of the audience, and that is no accident. This was an invitation only speech, and it was aimed at allaying the fears of many in the Jewish community that Obama is a less than steadfast supporter of Israel. In fact, while I was chatting with Rep. Patrick Murphy we were interrupted by a couple that wanted to discuss that very subject. Several people mentioned the endorsement of Robert Wexler, which seems to be carrying a lot of weight (even in Israel).
Before people overreact to Obama’s pandering to the Israeli Lobby, read this:
“This is where I get to be honest, and I hope I’m not out of school here,” Obama told Jewish leaders at the private meeting. “I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering, pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel, and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel.”
Two things here. First, a presidential campaign is not the time to start redefining our relationship with Israel. Second, I count myself as a supporter of Israel that takes a very un-Likud approach to the difficulties there. I cringe when I hear politicians prostrate themselves before the Israel Lobby, but I also see it somewhat akin to professing a strong religious faith. You want to be president? Or don’t you? Obama has to reassure the Jewish community that he supports Israel, not that he agrees with the politics of Netanyahu and Sharon.
In any case, I think today’s speech could very well go down as one of the finest speeches in American history. And, it might not even depend on whether he wins the general election. It was that impressive.
