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Opinion
Mar. 20, 2008
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ERIN NEFF: Speech for the ages

ERIN NEFF
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It's hard to find a speech that transcends politics these days. No one will confuse the talking points of cookie-cutter candidates with Winston Churchill's sweeping rhetoric.

More people get what little news they get from television than from radio or newspapers, and most people younger than 25 are more adept at text messaging than listening. On Tuesday, I turned to cable television to watch what my text message from the Barack Obama campaign promised was an important message.

CNBC had a countdown clock like you used to only see on New Years Eve. Only this was for the Federal Reserve Bank's interest-rate decision in three hours and 20 minutes.

When Obama did appear on the screen it wasn't for a stump speech or a policy address, which we've all become accustomed to these days. Instead, the Illinois senator spoke of race and religion, American society and politics in ways no other elected official has in my memory.

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    • The last time I heard such an honest evaluation of the black community was in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," a film some criticized for playing on stereotypes, but what I saw as an insightful look at how difficult it can be to straddle the sometimes-conflicting messages of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

    In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination that lately has been all about race, it took the nearly 40-minute speech by Obama to once again show why he is the most transcendent political figure of my lifetime.

    Sometimes it's hard to watch a politician speak, particularly when he or she is using a fairly iconic backdrop. Even recent inaugural addresses don't seem to live up to the prose or passion of those who also lived in the White House, served in Congress or walked the mall past memorials to those who we dutifully remember.

    Obama gave his speech at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center across the street from the cradle of our republic. And he told his American story like only he can, with the kind of gripping honesty you find in his first book.

    There in Pennsylvania, which holds the next primary election April 22, Obama stood up to once again wrest control of the Democratic nomination from the cacophony of inflammatory talk that keeps cable television aflutter with "analysis" of race in America.

    Obama condemned the statements of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who, among other things, used the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as a call to parishioners to ask God to damn the United States. Obama said we've seen 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."

    The senator so repudiated Wright's "profoundly distorted view" of our country that it would seem any general election attack linking Obama to his pastor's foreign policy ideas will be accompanied in news reports with excerpts from Tuesday's speech.

    By expanding his denouncement of Wright's statements to a larger speech on race, Obama didn't just put an end to questions about his ties to the south side Chicago church he has attended for 20 years. He also explained why he cannot and should not denounce his pastor.

    It's easy to fire an exuberant campaign operative for saying something screwy. But it's not at all easy to lead an honest discussion about America's future by being dishonest to your own race or faith. That's what former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked about in his speech about the Mormon religion.

    For Obama to walk away from his church or the pastor who officiated his wedding and baptized his children, would have in fact been to walk away from 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 her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe," he said.

    Whether it is the controversy about the Rev. Wright or the statements former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro made about Obama being where he is because he is black, race has once again dominated the discussion.

    As he so often does, Obama set his speech against the nation's history, speaking of the Constitution as the search for a more perfect union.

    "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," he said.

    And while it would be easier to demagogue Wright and Ferraro, as Obama noted, it wouldn't exactly be the way to make those signature changes in America.

    Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.

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    Joe C wrote on March 20, 2008 07:30 PM: Zeke,
    Whenever I hear what would Jesus do, or it’s about the children, I know I really about to hear some self-serving Bull Sh1$.
    If Bush actually ends up bringing democracy to Iraq, fifty years from now he’ll be like Lincoln.

    Nobody’s discounting a famed speech just one that was put out to cover over and not disown his racist friend.
    Oh yea, Jesus would have said, Blasphemy.


    howard wrote on March 20, 2008 05:10 PM: Would any of you vote for John McCain if he was this close to David Duke? Rev. Wright and David Duke are two different sides of the same coin. Obama wanted Don Imus fired for saying things like this but will defend Rev. Wright for saying much worse. Hate speech is hate speech. Anyone who defends it has no business getting near the White House.


    zeke wrote on March 20, 2008 04:39 PM: Did you know that Kennedy and Lincoln both barely won their first terms as President and had wide spread and, in Lincolns' case long lasting irrational hatred directed at them? I bet it would be hard to find ANY American today that would insult either of those men, or discount any of their famed speeches as I am reading in these comments.
    20 years from now, I HOPE you don't have to remember that YOU choose to continue the Sins of Ours Fathers and use racism and calious politics to suit your Party's political goals.
    I HOPE you are one of us who can Rise Above.
    Like Jesus would.


    ralph wrote on March 20, 2008 03:11 PM: I don't think Obama is a racist. However, I am getting sick and tired of certain racist comments being perfectly acceptable when said by some and not others. For example, our society has essentially banned the use of the n-word and it typically gets bleeped when used on tv. That's ok, unless you're black, in which case it's perfectly ok to say the word anytime you want. As a society we will have truly transcended race and racism when we are all judged by the same rules. People like the rev. wright, rev. jackson, rev. sharpton, et.al., are the ones who perpetuate and keep racism alive. It's their job.


    Tom, Burbank wrote on March 20, 2008 02:33 PM: Faf - Flattering as your words are, I'm not a perfect specimen of anything, so I'll spare readers my glorious mug. I am a big fan of NCFOM, however. Just an observation, friendo.


    Joe C wrote on March 20, 2008 01:01 PM: I must not of heard the same speech as Erin, because what I heard is completely different. I heard a well constructed; I got to save my butt speech.
    Obama is not MLK, and throwing you grandma to the curb to make your point was probably a story, just not true.

    If this situation was reversed Erin Neff would be decrying the person for allowing a hatful person to continue to be close to him.
    My self I don’t want the Reverend Wright close to the White House at all.

    Nice double standard, if anything only the naïve will continue to support him. Those people who feel the movie Crash were an honest portrait of America.


    tom wrote on March 20, 2008 12:05 PM: so Obamas been working through it by associating with it for 20 years,if you cannot see the utter wrong of all this i am at loss,the left cannot rouse itself to condemn this hateful, vile, ranting except to say he's old school...there is no acceptable "context" for this kind of hate,the more the aplologista go on,the more horrifying it becomes.....


    Travis wrote on March 20, 2008 11:56 AM: Tom, did you read the part of his speech where he discussed people from his reverends generation? He discussed this to put things into context Slavery officially ended about 140 years ago, yet segregation still existed about 50 years ago. Ending slavery did not end segregation or racism. Ending segregation did not end racism either. This is a social issue we, as a country, are still working through. Barack's speech is an important step in continuing this process towards "a more perfect union."


    tom wrote on March 20, 2008 11:48 AM: John F. you cannot compare 20 years with 20 minutes,i have been in the company of racists,i do not go back for more....


    tom wrote on March 20, 2008 11:40 AM: Travis if you have only seen 30 secs over and over,you must be watching CNN.....have you checked out the church's website?..including what they have taken down.....yes old habits die hard,these people are die hard racists and America haters and Obama sat there for 20 years..what was he doing gathering info for his transcendent speech>


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