Barack Obama’s speech today on race and politics tried to do a couple things, not the least of which was to halt the tide of bad press flowing out over Pastor Wright’s controversial sermons.
Going over the soundbites from the speech you can see a logical progression:
- Obama condems Wright
- Obama places Wright in the context of the “black church”
- Anger in African-American communities creates resentment in white communities
- and, finally, Obama is the candidate who can heal both black anger and white resentment.
A very nuanced argument to thread with such a blunt instrument as mass media. Hopefully news programmers are up for the challenge. If you are such a producer here is Obama’s speech in the raw along with some choice cuts that I’ve annotated for your ease.
Good luck!
After thought: it’s interesting to listen to Clinton’s (very brief) speech at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.