Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

"A More Perfect Union"

Constitution Center

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

* ::
*

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. 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 – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend 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. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. 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.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naοve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

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." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

PLONK

Big time.

He wrote this speech himself. Only showed it to a couple of top advisors before delivering it.

Pretty powerful stuff, coming from one guy trying very hard to sort things out and do the right things.

One guy who is going to put the country on the right track. One guy who is going to repair the reputation so sullied by the actions of the current administration. One guy whom is capable of uniting the large majority of Americans in pursuit of a future that has been taken from us by the likes of Bush, Cheney, et. al. and their agenda of greed, avarice, lies and political swill. He will be handed a country in a world of trouble thanks to this administration. Our economy is headed down, our reputation in the world is at an all time low, and the fat cat supporters of the current mess are in for a big surprise. Amen.

Sound like he's living in the past. Wants to enable those that won't work by giving them excuses. He makes excuses for racist statements that come from his friends and advisors.

That's why YOU are part of the problem, and HE is part of the solution.

This thread is about Obama, not McCain, Nwokie.

Andrew

What solution, he hasn't offered any solutions. Hes just made excuses for people.

So, in the past few days he vehemently denied hearing Rev. Wright make his comments. In his speech, he changed his position and acknowldged that he had heard them while sitting in church.

In all fairness and equality now, do we call him Liar Obama from here forward.

Vehemently denied?

Show us.

Fairness and equality? You don't know the meaning of the words.

"Show us."

Pay attention to the news and interviews and you won't need to be shown. What do you think I do, run a VCR on all the live interviews so I can show you?

Just like we should McCain? Hasn't McCain ever lied? DUHbya? The DICKster? Nixon?
He said he heard them BUT DIDN'T AGREE WITH THEM!!!!!!!
Come on DJ use your head besides pounding in 10 penny nails with.
Haven't you ever heard someone say something you don't agree with? You agree with EVERYTHING your husband says? But yet you stay with him??? WOW!

"Pay attention to the news and interviews and you won't need to be shown. What do you think I do, run a VCR on all the live interviews so I can show you?"

So lame. So typical of the mindless right. You can't substantiate your claims, so you divert attention from the fact that you can't.

Spend a few minutes searching on Google News if you want to substantiate your claims, Deane. Otherwise, admit you are wrong.

Andrew

It would be difficult to admit I'm wrong when I'm not.

Trixter, we're not talking about him saying something about disagreeing with the Rev Wright, he said he had not heard him say any of those things and later admitted he had. To use your words about Bush, it would then be Liar Obama.

The left just doesn't like it happening to them. They'd rather shut everyone up.

Now, I'll leave you to your posting and retire to my theater to watch the evening feature film, which I can assure you will be much more interesting.

Okay so he lied?
DUHbya has!
McCain has!
Hillary has!
Bill did!
Rudi did!
Newt did!
I have!
You haven't????

Now, I'll leave you to your posting and retire to my theater to watch the evening feature film, which I can assure you will be much more interesting.

Watching "Eating Crow"??? It's an in depth Documentary on the Bush administration and the LIES that they have pushed on the American public.

Got it Deane - can't substantiate a claim, can't admit you were wrong. Don't worry, it's what I expect from Republicans these days.

Are you watching that Jim Carrey movie "Liar, Liar" again?

Andrew

"Got it Deane - can't substantiate a claim, can't admit you were wrong. Don't worry, it's what I expect from Republicans these days."

You had to push it didn't you Andrew.

FROM ABC NEWS:

In his Friday night cable mea culpas on the incendiary comments made by his spiritual adviser Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., repeatedly said, "I wasn't in church during the time that these statement were made. I did not hear such incendiary language myself, personally. Either in conversations with him or when I was in the pew, he always preached the social gospel. ... If I had heard them repeated, I would have quit. ... If I thought that was the repeated tenor of the church, then I wouldn’t feel comfortable there."

Obama told CNN that he "didn't know about all these statements. I knew about one or two of these statements that had been made. One or two statements would not lead me to distance myself from either my church or my pastor. ... If I had thought that was the tenor or tone on an ongoing basis, then yes, I don't think it would have been reflective of my values."

But according to a New York Times story from a year ago, the Obama campaign dis-invited Wright from delivering a public invocation at Obama's candidacy announcement.

READ IT ALL HERE:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/just-what-did-o.html

Keep in mind Andrew, this is from left wing ABC News. I'm surprised a person as astute as you missed this entire multi-day segment of the issue. Now, you really did miss it didn't you?

HE LIED!
You haven't?
DUHbya hasn't?
Your husband hasn't?
McCain hasn't???

Answer that.....

Right, Trixter.

Defend one bad behaviour by pointing to another.

But of course you'd do that. It's the democrat way.

Herb

Nope...
To think your PERFECT... That's the EXTREME WAY!
As a TRUE Republican I know that I have faults. I voted for DUHbya the first time for crying out loud.
Thinking your better than everyone else is YOUR job Herb and all you EXTREME RIGHT Bible thumpers.

Actually, the article does not prove to the positive what claims were made in the premise earlier in the thread, i.e. what was said that Obama actually heard, let alone the "vehemently" part.

Clearly there is a no lack of taciturn amongst Republicans.

So don't go off licking your balls quite yet oh right winged nutjobs of the group.

The spinning here would make a merry-go-round operator dance with joy.

The Bush doom on all Republicans is rooted in self-righteousness.

Bash Bush
Bash Bush
Bash Bush

Who are you lefties gonna blame when that lame duck is gone?

It'll still be the blame game, with plenty more of your tired old 'pass the buck'...the way liberals avoid getting anything done now, even with your congressional majority!

We won a nice 2nd Amendment victory today, but that's just the start.

After the democrat candidates have destroyed each other's chance to win whilst giving the hero Mr. McCain plenty of fodder for the Autumn election, Mr. McCain's new supreme court justices will gleefully destroy the dastardly Roe v. Wade.

Herb

BASH CLINTON
BASH CLINTON
BASH CLINTON

You EXTREME RIGHTIES are STILL blaming everything on Clinton.

We won a nice 2nd Amendment victory today, but that's just the start.

EVERYONE won Herb! as a gun owner I always win! BANG! BANG!

Destroy Roe vs Wade Herb.... Abortions will still happen. Drugs are ILLEGAL but MILLIONS of Americas are on them. THINK!

"Destroy Roe vs Wade Herb...."

Thank you. I shall....with relish, gusto and a smile on my face.

"Drugs are ILLEGAL but MILLIONS of Americas are on them."

Nice red herring. The difference is that babies don't have any choice. Choose life and adoption.

Spin on.

Herbert M.

YOUR NEVER GOING TO STOP IT HERB!
Making it illegal will not stop it!
We could make guns illegal 5 minutes ago and I AM STILL GOING TO HAVE MINE!
You could make TV ILLEGAL and you going to find someone that watches it.

SPIN YOURSELF....

Sorry you can't handle the TRUTH!

So you wanna legalise drugs and go with a needle park like in Europe?

You don't elevate behaviour by lowering the bar.

I say raise it a few notches and watch 'em scatter.

Herb

Herb...
DRUGS ARE ILLEGAL and we HORRIBLE drug problems in America. Keeping them ILLEGAL hasn't stopped it from being a problem and it's getting worse. just pointing out FACT!!!!!!
Raise it as far as you want Herb..... It's NEVER going to change.....

It's bad now.

Lowering the bar will make kids tripping on acid and nodding off in class from a heroin injection more common, and just another part of everyday life.

Judge Bork was 100% correct. We are indeed 'slouching toward Gomorrah.'

Herbert

Deane_johnson writes:
Keep in mind Andrew, this is from left wing ABC News. I'm surprised a person as astute as you missed this entire multi-day segment of the issue. Now, you really did miss it didn't you?

Actually, Deane, I never claimed Obama never said this or that - I merely wanted you to back up your claim! Thanks for doing so.

I don't see ABC as being so "lefty" as you do, given their eagerness to broadcast that fictional 9/11 movie a year or so ago...

Andrew

Here's a good spin from another thread:

"Obama is a charming, personable, likable and very articulate individual. Every time I see him on TV I think, what a neat guy."

Deane

Everytime I see him, I think, he reminds me of Eddie haskel, whats he covering up?

Lowering the bar will make kids tripping on acid and nodding off in class from a heroin injection more common, and just another part of everyday life.

Herb...
Do you have kids in the public school system where you live??? It's common NOW!

One of the finest speeches on race in America in the last half-century was just delivered by someone who potentially could be our next President. An inclusiveness that has been absent from our national vocabulary has been presented to the nation as a challenge. I feel really damn proud to be an American, but today there was something extra in the air.

This is not about engaging citizens in some sort of glossing over of our differences, instead it is a call to confront them and see if they hold true in the light. Obama simply asked us all to look in the mirror for a moment.

Opening the dialog in this country about race took far bigger balls than all the other preemptive unilateral strikes in the world. We are far overdue for a reality check, and I am glad somebody with some deep rooted common sense brought it up.

The ones who rail loudest against a minister who said things that were inflammatory, so easily forget that he did serve his country in the Marines and his community in the clergy. Again, the only solution is to look in the mirror.

Who among us can say that we didn't harbor something raging within us that made us say destructive things? Who among us can say that they do not harbor resentments and stereotypes based in ignorance? Who among us can say that we understand the breadth our own experience from a perspective of pure wisdom and not a broken castle built of resentments?

I believe the message today was that racism can no longer hide under a sheet, or in the corner of the workshop, or behind a pulpit, or at a desk in America without all of us fessing up to the inequity of our thoughts. Everybody. It was a wonderfully Socratic moment, and what we all do with it will determine the true power of what he said.

Missing, where did you hear or read that he wrote that himself? I'd really like to see that for myself somewhere. It counts, for me.

CJ, Ed Schultz said on CNN that Tom Daschle told him this morning that Obama was up until two finishing the speech. The NY Times mentioned he was working on it Monday. Marc Ambinder of Atlantic says that he worked on it for two days on the stump. The AP also confirms he wrote it himself.

You might appreciate this insight from a former student on Kos.

Insannity mentioned it on his show as well.

It counts for me too. Counts big.

I don't like how this all has gone. Went through last night and thought about guilty by association. Both the other candidates have their ugly friends, ugly deeds, and such. There is enough crap to go around. That means everybody can just pick and choose the crap they feel best with.

That's not what this guy is about.

The man has lived his life, largely on the higher ground, learning from those times when he didn't have the higher ground.

He will confront tough things and not hide, marginalize them or dodge them, because he wants to get past them. At the core, this is somebody who does not have self issues. Somebody with the character to know none of us are perfect and deals with that by just working on it when he is called to work on it.

That speech is complex. In fact, I think it's perhaps the most complex thing I've heard spoken politically. Interestingly, it reads better than Obama spoke it.

Been wondering why he toned it down for this one. He's normally very powerful. That's saying something.

I've settled on him talking some stuff out, kind of explaining, with patience, how things are to those people that don't get it, or never have gotten it, or maybe who don't have the strength to deal with it. It's like "here are my core rules, this is how it goes always, see?"

IMHO, it takes considerable strength to broach this topic. To do it like he did, and to do it without the safety of focus groups, advisors and such rings true to me.

That's Obama pure and simple. Either he's good enough, or the right person, or he just isn't. Delivering and writing this thing was as much for him as it was us.

Basically, it's no crutches. No gaming the system, no advantage at all, just Obama. It rings true for him, so he needed to know if it rang true for us as well.

If it didn't, he then would know he should not be running --that the world isn't there yet and perhaps he might be better off doing other things. Honestly, had it not rang true, I think he would have done just that, with no worries other than for those of us not willing to step up to the plate and make things better.

That's unashamed honesty and character right there. Obama is not worried about himself, or the call for power, or anything else like that. He only wants to know if enough of us are there, where he is, so that the effort to come makes sense.

That's what I get from this thing, how it was delivered and how it was written. I like this guy, period. I know he wants to do the right things in the right way.

I also know he forgives and sees the best in people. I think that's what makes him able to inspire like he does.

"I also know he forgives and sees the best in people."

No doubt he can forgive Al-qaeda and invite them to lunch in the White House. Heck, they can visit about 9-11 and what a clever job those guys did. And chat a little bit about the effective job Bin Laden has done not getting caught.

Then, he can plan a foreign trip to Iran and visit with Ahmadinejad. That'll take a little time as he searches for the best in him. While he's searching, Ahmadinejad can proudly show him his big stack of nukes being prepared for Isreal.

Yup, Obama has all sorts of possibilities in the White House.

I think somebody pissed in your Cheerios recently Deane.

Of course, those are the words of somebody who's got exactly NOTHING.

"Herb...Do you have kids in the public school system where you live??? It's common NOW!"

That's why I said, "If you think it's bad now, it'll become even more common."

Fine, Trixter. Using your logic, they're going to do it anyway. So along with a free needle exchange, why not simply give kids vouchers for a free fix, too?

You've just lowered the bar even more than many of your democrat pals.

Herb

"Herb...Do you have kids in the public school system where you live??? It's common NOW!"

That's why I said, "If you think it's bad now, it'll become even more common."

Fine, Trixter. Using your logic, they're going to do it anyway. So along with a free needle exchange, why not simply give kids vouchers for a free fix, too?

You've just lowered the bar even more than many of your democrat pals.

Herb