Sen. Obama strikes again : he gave a well-thought out, brilliantly written and historically referenced speech. As he had previously done in his victory speech after the South Carolina primary, and after the Iowa caucus even earlier on.
Obama gave an uplifting message that is clearly meant to go straight into history books alongside other great speeches such as that of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on religion or civil rights activists calling for unity and peace within the American people.
He started by referring to the American Constitution both as the touchstone of the American government (the aim of which was "to form a more perfect union") and as a document resulting from political compromises and tainted by "America's original sin".
I hope my second year students from Cergy remember the several articles in which slavery is referred to, albeit not in a straightforward manner :
- art. 1, section 2, paragraph 3 referred to the 3/5th compromise ;
- art 1, section 9, paragraph 1 granted a moratorium on importation of slaves until 1808.
- art. 4, section 2, paragraph 3 offered provisions for the future Fugitive Slave Act.
I believe this opening remark places Obama in the great tradition of William Lloyd Garisson who exposed the Constitution ("our present national compact") as deeply unamerican and evil per se ("a pact with hell"). Obama does not go quite that far but presents the Constitution as a text that makes a promise of liberty and justice for all that it was at first unable to uphold.
The Union has been in a state of being perfected ever since, be it through a civil war, pamphlets, protests and a massive civil rights movement. He places his candidacy in that tradition of fighting for a more perfect union, for an America that lives up to its ideals: he pledges himself to continue "the long march of those who came before us". This type of rhetoric clearly makes him a great American ; his speeches are meant to be historic, possibly opening a new era of race relations in the US. The rhetoric of "perfecting the Union" is instrumental in making Obama appear as the heir to the great American reformers who, far from being un-American have tried to make the country live up to its ideals, as they are written out in the Declaration of Independence and which are universally accepted. Obama does not want to change America, he is no revolutionnary, he is appealing to his fellow-citizen's sense of idealism and quest for perfection. His aim is to help America keep its promise to itself.
He then goes on to interpret his personal life story as a typically American narrative, and moreover as a story that could only happen in the US. Thus, I believe he is truly American not because of how he came to be but because of the way he tells his story.
In his next section he explains why Jeremiah Wright's sermons are both unacceptable (they contribute to digging the racial divide) and understandable ( the pastor and people of his generation have been genuinely oppressed and carry with them the rancour created by discrimination). Barack Obama then treads a delicate path, trying to balance rejection of the hostile rhetoric of the pastor with the recognition of how Jeremiah Wright has changed his life and made him a Christian. He compares him to an uncle that you love but who also embarasses you because of his prejudice.
The last part of the speech is a commentary on the need to "perfect the union" in regard to racial relations. There are unsolved issues that need to be dealt with now in order to reunite the American people. He highlights the fact that the consequences of centuries of oppression can still be felt today.
And he then acknowledges the plight of poor whites which must also be addressed to guarantee appeased race relations in America. Many of them resent the Black community for living on welfare and benefiting from affirmative action policies. The lack of understanding and hatred is thus on both sides and to end his speech Barack Obama tells the story of a poor white girl whose mother lost her job to cancer and who helped her mom by living of the cheapest kind of food for one year. Now a grown woman, she is an organizer in the Black community of South Carolina for the Obama campaign for she never saw the Black community as the cause of her problems and wants to make life easier for all American children living in poverty. This epitomizes Barack Obama's understanding of social problems in America : he is trying to solve the problems of poverty beyond the racial paradigm : this is how the Americans will make their union perfect.
However the question that is now up in the air is : will this speech be enough to overcome the Jeremiah Wright contreversy? The remarks of Obama's pastor have been in the news and all over youtube, will the problem go away or come back to haunt him later in the campaign (it will not play well in the national campaign if he gets the nomination due to the "anti-patriotic" content of his sermons)?
Bill Richardson, the Hispanic candidate to the Democratic nomination who dropped out after losing several primary contests has now endorsed Barack Obama. What does this endorsement mean ?John Harwood gives a short answer to that question.
Richardson worked in the Clinton adminstration, so his shift to Obama, is a powerful disowning of Hillary Clinton, her role in her husband's administration and her candidacy for 2008. Bill Richardson is also the governor of a swing state : New Mexico. One may wonder how his support to Obama will play out in the general election (reminder N.M. voted on February 5 and went very narrowly to Clinton).
Listen to the entire Bill Richarson speech, see how he describes the Hispanics' current plight and interprets Obama's message on race as one that applies to that minority as well as the Black community.
Will this endorsement have any influence on other super-delegates and more importantly on the Hispanic vote in the general election?
Do you remember Bill Richardson's television ad during the primary campaign?
