Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Four score....I have a dream....and this...

The Huffington Post has made available the text of Barack Obama's speech in Philadelphia today. Read it. I will not be surprised if history accords it a place alongside the two speeches I alluded to in the title; this speech deserves it.
Obama has courageously taken the issue of race head-on----and how! Today I believe that he is not just a good politician; I believe that he has all the makings of a legendary statesman.
People can always debate what any given candidate can or will achieve if elected into office. But what should be beyond debate is the articulation of their understanding of the country's problems, their prioritization of these problems and their plans to address these problems within the framework of the strengths and weaknesses of our nation at the present time. Over the course of the campaign, Obama has consistently done the best job of that.
This speech puts him over the top, if only for the guts it took to put his candidacy and entire political future on the line. If he can speak about race so starkly and so well, if he can boldly grab that third rail of politics and electrify the nation instead of being electrocuted himself, I have to believe that there is no challenge too big for him to take on boldly and intelligently as President.
I have made some occasional commentary on this presidential race but till now have refrained from endorsing any candidate. Today, Barack Obama leaves me with no choice but to endorse him as my candidate for the presidency of the United States of America.

Print this post

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's a nice speech. What impressives a lot more than the speech itself is that fact that he didn't let those right-wing motherfuckers and their media enablers maneuver him into personally repudiating his pastor. I applaud him for his loyalty and balls.