Barack's Philadelphia speech

Paris

yesterday in one of my classes we listened to Barack Obama's Philadelphia speech on race that he gave in March of this year just before the Pennsylvania convention. While this speech will always be seen an extremely pivotal moment in his campaign, it is easy to forget the context of this moment. Obama was not courageously speaking the "truth" about race relations in the US, but was, like all politicians, making a shrewd political gamble to help win the election.

Obama was in trouble: his fiery pastor Jeremiah Wright was being played on repeat on all the major channels and polls suggested that he was loosing ground in Appalachia. Should he ignore the 24 new cycle in hopes that the story would disappear? Obama correctly realized that this was not an option, Obama was too closely linked to the Wright, (he was an important figure in Dreams of my father, Wrights sermon the Audacity of Hope was the title of Obama's second book, not to mention Wright had baptized his children and had presided over Obama's wedding). Barack had to separate himself, but how?

What was needed was a swift denouncement of Wrights speeches, a reaffirmation of Obama's centrist and balanced thinking and lastly an explanation of his relationship with the priest. To run away from Wright would have been roundly criticized as a political ploy and would have raised even more questions about his real opinions.

what Obama delivered was a masterstroke. To affirm his connection to all Americans he opened his speech about his white grandparents working and struggling with the great depression. "I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II," he said He then moved on to his appeal to all ethnic groups including whites: "we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country." Next he roundly criticized his pastors "divisiveness." Then came the decisive moment. He painted his pastor not as someone who recriminates whites for the spread of AIDS but as 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." Throughout the speech he highlighted certain populist yet centrist positions: unequivocal support for Israel and a pledge fix schools. Lastly he reaffirmed his belief in solving problems together. "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."
This was a defining moment because for the first time a Democratic candidate was able to escape from a potentially toxic political wedge issue and take the offensive. History will show that Obama was even after being back-stabbed by Wright a month later at the Press Club never really tested over his racial affiliations.

Victory in Europe

Bologna, Italy. SAIS University
In the early morning hours before Barack Obama’s election victory Wednesday morning, my brother mused about the self correcting nature of the democratic system: Democracy doesn’t always produce the best leaders, he argued, but it gives the people an opportunity to get rid of the bad ones without unnecessary strife and violence that comes with war and revolution. As EH Carr wrote, Democracy substitutes the counting of heads for the breaking of heads.
I always thought that elections were a lot like wars. In an election, we don’t fight campaigns by searching for high ground, we fight over bellwether states. We commend those politicians who seem tough, and attack and are best able to brush off attacks from their adversaries. As in wars, certain attacks are universally condemned for their brutality: Barack Obama better not swift-boat McCain and McCain mustn’t play the race card against Obama. Most importantly as in war and revolutions, elections produce winners and losers. Over the last eight years, it was the liberal cosmopolitan coasts (where I’m from) who found themselves suddenly conquered by the alien bushies and their right wing Texas politics. During this period, we weren’t physical crushed as in war; it was our collective psyche that took a beating. We all felt a subconscious need to disassociate ourselves from the country we loved. When the TV monitor showed that Barack Obama had finally done it, a collective cheer of profound joy emanated from the lecture hall, some were crying, others were hugging random strangers. At that moment, it occurred to me that these American SAIS students who had helped propel Obama to victory with their vote had become, for at least a day, the Greatest Generation. This was our Victory in Europe day, minus all the broken heads of course.