Six minute section of Barack Obama's big speech on race in America

Comments

[john]

Clever speech, but it's mainly about excusing the stupid remarks of the Reverend Wright. And was it necessary to for him to make the gratuitous comments about his "white grandmother", who confessed she was afraid to pass a black man in the street? "I can't disown the Reverend Wright, any more than I can disown my grandmother".
Clever stuff, but hopefully the average American has a built in sh*t detector.

[Alan Douglas]

I have listened to the whole speech. I am NOT a democrat or leftie of any kind, but I was very impressed with the analysis and sheer "truth" of what Obama is saying. There are serious rifts in both USA and UK society, which do need facing and curing.

Unlike John above, I am actually wondering if the pastor's remarks were deliberately spread so that Obama could make such a big number of repudiating them and going on to confront the wider existing problem, as a first step in handling it.

Alan Douglas

[malcolm]

Thank you for posting this video from my You Tube collection.

I personally think that this speech was a breath of fresh air.

I think that by directly voicing the unspoken fears and concerns of both whites and blacks, he has done something totally unheard of in the political world: he has told the truth and trusted the voters to be able to understand complex arguments.

As far as his grandmother goes, I don’t see it as throwing her under the bus; I see it as a personal affirmation of the same thing we all face in our own families: how to come to grips with painful words spoken by people we love.

This speech will ring truth with most voters, because it so clearly expresses the problem; a problem that we all know of, but very few are willing to admit in public.