head... exploding

Senator Obama gave a speech on race today.

His pastor, who may have retired, the media calls him his ex pastor, is a fiery, fiery black preacher. People , white people , who have never seen a fired up black preacher were shocked! OMG, black people talk back at church!  Their preachers move around, they shout, they emote! RUN away, run away! He said some very controversial things. ( I had known about him saying such things for a long long time , but its all of a sudden NEWS) They had to be addressed in order  fpr Obama to keep some of his white support. So, todays speech.

An announcement went out. Gather the tribes... He will speak! Those bushes will burst into flame just any minute now. Barack Obama has a completely unique take on race relations in America. Well, Barack Obama and every other mixed race person in America! AND race is SO the giant elephant in American politics. RACE RELATIONS are never spoken of in Adult tones, never in the beige tones of Barack Obama. One side gets up and yells at the other, same, same, same.

It was a good speech. He addressed the issue of his pastor " he is crazy but i love him" ( ALL Southerners know this feeling) He addressed his white grandmother, who said raciest things. He addressed Geraldine Ferraro. He presented the issue in an overall Christian tone that also rarely gets addressed  in an adult way. AGAIN, a nice , lovely speech. BUT: It was from Barack Obama

Andrew Sullivan. " I did want to say that this searing , nuanced , gut -wrenching , loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian speech is the MOST HONEST SPEECH ON RACE IN AMERICA in my adult lifetime. (sigh:)  IT IS THE SPEECH WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FOR A GENERATION. Fuck you, John Lewis, fuck you Harold Ford, jr, Fuck you Gov. Patterson. ONLY Barack can save us from us. Just stop. Before the speech the talking head talking points were all over tv CALLING it " most important".

Those that love him will see this as so much more than this was. Those that do not see a man with very good "preachin' skills" who is drowning in his own hype. There are just GUSHING reviews all over the net. I'm not going to link to them. This time I do not feel its just me not getting it.