Wonkette

The next time Hillary opens her mouth, she's going to sound like Elroy Jetson in comparison.

Bah, when have Americans ever focused on distractions as opposed to real issues during their presidential races? If you're talking about the whole "gay marriage" thing last time around you're wrong: gay marriage would have angered Osama Bin Ladin, who would then have blown up America. Gay marriage was an issue that was central to our survival as a nation... just as the words of everyone associated with Obama are far more important indicators of the effects of a hypothetical Obama presidency than what Obama himself actually believes.

Obama gave a stunning, towering speech! He'll be our next President!

UPROARIOUS APPLAUSE - Go Obama!

he only said this speech regarding race issues as his apology for calling a hlllary a nappy headed ho' on the radio

Barack has my vote. Any candidate who can work Ashley's name into the text is a genius. The incident he was referring to must have been before she changed her name to Kristen.

Whaaa? Oh.

Nevermind.

He uses too much rationality for voters, I'm afraid.

hah hah i watched the speech on internet and replayed but still couldn't understand it....seemed to wander in a few directions...but wonkette's clever reprise of the speech helped quite a bit! carry on.

Someone should tell him that the colonists who came to America were not the same people at the constitutional convention, which occurred 160 years after Jamestown's founding. Obama is dumb.

Too many flags, perfect color of tie, impeccable tone...God help you if you win.

So he's pretty much completely 100% anti-white. If not, why didn't he mention Natalie Holloway?

Goddam racists.

Since the best antidote to this attempt to distract or reframe the election using the same old, tired, discredited McCarthyite tactics is humor -- may I recommend this blog [stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com] ? It is right up there with hotchickswithdouchebags.com for laughs.

@Omnilation: good point sir! at least now everyone knows he isn't muslim because of this minister fellow! time for Obama to look on the bright side. I know I always do! your loyal follower from wellington.

May not get him out of this sinkhole, but he had me cryin' with that speech. It was one for the generations, and had our national dysfunctions pretty well pegged. Then the former consultant down the hall talked about how he'll be sliced and diced into 30 sec intervals served to McCain on a platter, sigh. Of course she loves the HRC and hadn't even heard the speech, and so reflected many Dems.

You can't really touch him on this one. That speech was amazing, it gave me chills. And he's right. 100% right.

@Serolf Divad: Gay marriage is not, nor has not been an issue that is essential to the survival of our nation. It absolutely was used as a distraction to wrangle in and solidify the evangelist, Christian right vote.

Like i said, he can't be touched.

Just another example of the uppity-ness and impatience plaguing the black man today.

Can't he just wait his turn? The Clintons got an awful lot of antsy investors worried about their downpayments.

am I reading anything in to the fact that he spoke in front of a blue screen? Are they going to add the weather report in post production?

THAT'S RACIST!

Where is that kid when we need him?

Hey lookit everybody! Obama's teachin' an Afro-American History 101 class!

He sounded very "presidential" to me. All that was missing from the podium was the presidential seal.

This black man sounds so refreshing...
My corporate overlords confuse me sometimes, I never know what they'll do next!

forget about your readers' 2nd change @ making all the LL rocking the bells analogies - hold it now (reverb) hit it!!! should'a had done it with da liberty bell in the background while placing an emph-a-sis on the need to crack some domes.

Damn, Barry. Cut that shit out. That speech just cost me another $25. David Plouffe will be very happy with you.

Why was the speech scheduled so early in the day? It wasn't even 8am on the West Coast, people have barely had their morning coffee.

Someone on the boob tube (Sally Quinn?) said it may be the most important speech on race since MLK's I Have A Dream, and I suspect only a few of us bothered to see it.

I hope they keep replaying that bad boy all damn day and week and month. Hillary's probably screeching at her writing staff and then curling up in a fetal position as we speak.

@lascauxcaveman: Word. I had to beg my girlfriend to stop me from opening my wallet...again.

Overlords -- is that an option at the Emperors Club ?

Speechifyin' ain't experience -- Lincoln pumped out a bunch of quality stemwinders and that didn't work out well.

Nixon/Obama- Race/Checkers.

@Pupster: amen

Can I has no race war plz?

It's too late, I'm afraid. The damage has been done. The mere fact that Obama had to call a speech just to answer to this nonsense is a victory for Clinton. As TGY noted above, too much rationality! The innuendo has wreaked its havoc on the easily manipulated American Mind. When Obama appears on the tv, white folks will now involuntarily think about Black Panthers raising their fists aloft and shooting up Innocent Caucasians with their assault rifles.

@Beezie:
You're just wrong about that: If Gay people are allowed to marry, then there will be no incentive for people not to be gay, and America will be a barren, uninhabited land within three generations.

NYTimes has video of Ashley mentioned in the speech as she visits beauty shops in SC.

[video.on.nytimes.com]

@Beezie: Are you new here?

@StoneSoup: I keep waiting for "uppity" to slip out of someone in Hillary's camp's mouth when speaking about him. You know she and Bill say it behind closed doors....

@Jasen_Comstock: You're right! Finally, a "Pat's tattered coat" for Gen-Xers!

@MagnusMaximus: Anything that allows Obama to make a major speech has to be a shot in the foot for Hillary.

So I guess the summary of the speech is, 'kill whitey, vote for me'?

Not really sure that forcing Barry to speak is a win. Maybe pressuring him to perform mime would back him into a corner (a la Baby), but anytime Obama has to come up with a good speech, he ends up giving a great speech.

And he did just that today.

@Serolf Divad: A sexy, sexy land.

Poor Hillary. If she had been smart or had smarter strategists, she would have given a similar speech encompassing race AND gender after the fracas with elderly yet apparently still alive Geraldine Ferraro and not allowed Obama to have this "presidential" moment. Well, maybe there's still hope. She could find some descendants of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott and give a rousing address at Seneca Falls! Yeah! go, um..Hillary! OK.

@Serolf Divad: That will make a great movie ending, though. Charlton Heston kneeling in the sand, shaking his fist at a mustachioed Statue of Liberty in a muscle T. "You maniacs! You queened it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"

Yeah, but how would you like to be Geraldine Ferraro right now, namechecked like that in a speech for the generations. Even though he loves her, like he loves all of us. Romantically. Like Jesus.

People will know that the preacher said "God damn America," and the fact that a speech was made in response, and that's what they'll react to--not any of its contents.
Because it doesn't have a lot of sound bites, what I think will happen is the news channel commentators, as they talk about it for the rest of the Dem primary process, will summarize it more often than they'll play clips, and that will greatly reduce its impact.
It will be very easy to dismiss for those who have a mind to do so, and for those people to convince others to do the same. It is a wonderful speech, a very strong and affective response to all the crap raining down from the latest scandal, but because it doesn't operate in kind with what it's responding to, I'm skeptical of how far it will go to defuse the problem among the crowd who borrow their opinions from televised pundits.

It would be totally sweet if Pennsylvanians took a hankering to this fellow and he beat Hillary in the primary. Game over!

@broken.yellow.fangs: Everything I needed to know about black people I learned from [www.blackpeopleloveus.com]

Obama delivered a tremendous speech and it is appropriate to compare it to MLK's famous speech--he did an excellent job.

However, we all know that there is no pleasing the knuckle dragging ilk of Hannity, Limpballs, and the rest of that crew. Joe "when I was in Congress" Scarborough and his little panel of white friends on MSNBC were unwatchable.

Somebody please tell me how Buchanan in his very insular, safe little world, has come to be such a sage on race realtions? This guy was Nixon's little manservant and he heard RMN rage on an on about blacks, jews, and every other ethnic group in this country. Sally Quinn, newly emerged from the plastic surgeon's office is now an authority on race relations--how do these clowns get these paid gigs.

They should consult the Wonkette Speaker's Bureau--it may cost a little more but hey, with us they'd get the truth and some snark.

MSNBC--the last place network for politics or any substance.

Incredible speech. Obama answered a lot of my questions and I believe most Democrats will be satisfied- if not orgasmic. Probably Independents too.

I wonder....if Hillary gave a similar speech about sexism and gender issues in the US, would she be as lauded as a ground-breaker and praised by the national media the same way Obama is? I'm guessing NO. I'm guessing she would be dismissed as a divisive whiner.

But that's ok. I'm sure I just feel that way because I'm a racist or something.

@chezlounge: I totally agree, especially the bit about fucking Pat Buchanan. That guy probably has a white hood stuffed in the back of his closet somewhere.

The people who will reject Obama's speech today are the unreachable idiots who would never have voted for him anyhow. If they get to decide this election, I have no hope left for this crappy country.

I think they pull out Buchanan so we can see how hate flourished in the days of old and to remind us of the presence of evil in our lives nipping at our heels. Last week, Buchanan, on the MSNBC, told A Black Woman to shut up. What was awesome was that Power Lesbian Rachel Maddow called him on it.

@chezlounge: The day they lock Pat Buchanan and Al Sharpton in a room to tear each other apart will be a new day for America.

Obama FTW
Hillary EPIC FAIL
nuff said

@rose0red: well, she is a divisive whiner.

"...we can play Rev. Wright's speeches from now until the election in November..."
We have the permission to do so! Yes!!!

Snark snark snark, Barry Obama talks good
Snark snark snark, Christ I'm too cool for this shit
Snark snark snark, Obscure reference
Snark snark snark.

Am I the only one who really, truly, honestly, isn't wowed? He didn't answer any of the actual questions I have -- like, "How can you be so stupid as to associate yourself with this douchebag for 20 years and then claim you had no idea?" or "How can you have been so unprepared for this news to break?" -- and lost me with round 72 of platitudes.

Those white Iowans who loved him before are scratching their heads now, (rightfully) questioning his judgment.

Also: I am fairly certain that Barack could say ANYTHING and 95% of the commenters would write about how awesome he is and how they would like to perform fellatio on him, whereas Hillary could save 10 children from a burning house and a handful of people would comment on how it was either (i) self-serving, (ii) racist or (iii) evil of her. Snooze.

Sorry to strike a dissonant chord in the Wonkette echo chamber but really can't see how this speech (very good one, but not great) helps Obama that much. All the talk of uniting left and right in the name of progress now beomes overcoming the great racial divide? Haven't we seen this movie before? Does race now trump the bipartisanship Obama had been championing all throughout his campaign? Does Barry really want to change his message to one about "black anger" and "white resentment" at this stage of the game?

@rose0red: Yes, indeed.

Hillary's speech would go along the lines of this:

My compelling biography involves hitching my wagon to a young ambitious law student who sought to be president of the United States. So I married him, and he was elected Attorney General of Arkansas, and later Governor of that Great state. I exploited that by taking opportunities as they arose from those who sought to curry favor with the Governor -- whether it be Wal-Mart, where I served on the Board of Directors, or being named partner of the state's largest law firm, despite really having no other experience, other than being married to the Governor (sure I had a good law degree, but so do plenty of others who actually were from Arkansas). Let's not get into Tyson Foods, that befouled the state's waterway and environment with animal waste. Later, my husband ran for President, and I was so full of myself, we advertised it as 2 for 1, which upon his election, was ridiculous, because I held no elected or constitutional office. Yet, the one big assignment I received --healthcare-- I screwed up. Later, my husband set me up as a carpetbagger, where I ran for Senate, with an eye to the presidency, not unlike RFK.

In this way, I have led the way for feminists and women who have succeeded based upon their own qualifications and achievements.

@procrastinator, esq.: I agree with you on that -- WHY DID HE NEED TO GIVE THIS SPEECH IN THE FIRST PLACE? And the hatemonger Reverend Jeremiah Wright is still as important to Obama as his own grandmother? She must be one mean and intolerant woman, is all I can say. Why did Barry go down this road. And please stop the Hillary-bashing unless she was the one who signed him up for this church 20 years ago and told him to say he wasn't in the pew the day the good Reverend hated on America. Hillary has NOTHING to do with Barry's poor judgment on this one...

@PolitickerFailed: What the fuck else do you want the guy to talk about after the last week+ of endless repetition of snippets of sermons carefully selected to show Wright making his most crazy statements? Yeah the guy is off but he has also been turned into a caricature in an effort to take down Obama.

Obama isn't changing his unity message, he is saying that obviously the racial shit is still there, under the surface or otherwise and at this point he needs to address it. You think he should leave it to Fox News and Pat Buchanan to have a "real" unvarnished discussion about race relations and this campaign? Ha.

If you still question Obama's honesty and integrity at this point, you would have never been open to supporting him in the first place.

@procrastinator, esq.:
Those white Iowans who loved him before are scratching their heads now, (rightfully) questioning his judgment.

There's nothing white people hate more than an angry black man who will tell you how he really feels.

@procrastinator, esq.: I thought he answered your first question pretty well, and the answer was "There's a lot of anger over race held over from the last two generations, and sometimes, it boils over into batshit craziness -- which I totally reject -- but even though you've come to know my pastor for some cherry-picked examples of such, the vast bulk of his work and the work of my church far outweighs that admittedly horrible stuff."

As for the second question, it sort of stands to reason that if Wright, as appears to be the case, wasn't anywhere near as grossly offensive most of the time as the statements that have been highlighted make him seem, Obama had no reason to see this coming. What could he have done before someone else brought it up anyway? And if acknowledging the wrongness, explicitly and repeatedly, but still speaking up for the good Wright has done isn't enough, what would be? He should disassociate himself with the man completely, for purely political reasons, because even though Wright's done a lot of good and was formative in Obama's life, Americans might be too stupid to handle such a terrifically complex notion? Sorry -- seen that game played before.

@PolitickerFailed:
Those uppity blacks.... right?

It must annoy you so much when they're all ungrateful and America-hating. Slavery was a long time ago, you lazy bums!

Hah hah! Well at least we know he didn't plagiarize the speech and that he wrote it himself: couldn't understand one word of it left, right or center! So much for all that excitement about it being a I Have a Dream Speech! Time to pack it in Barry! Take a nice holiday! Visit me here in Wellington!

@rose0red: Where is this speech that was so incredible? Can I find it on Youtube? Not this one for sure! Unless his intention was to make sure everyone finds out about preacher! At least now we know he isn't Muslim...at least not since law school! Whoops!

@superfectablog: I understand your point, and it made me reconsider, but I still hafta disagree. While Obama's speech was eloquent and very effectively neutralized all the noise, the damaging association is there and isn't likely to be erased (I'm talking about the 'average' voter here...those who get their news from soundbites and headlines.) I do hope you are correct....

@Botswana Meat Commission FC:Those are YOUR thoughts not mine. I think he should have just condemned the Reverend's hateful remarks and been done with him. To turn his campaign into 1964 all over again isn't going to help him, the economy, US competitveness in a global market, or any other pressing issue facing this country today.

@Botswana Meat Commission FC: But I see from ALL of your comments here that you see a racist overtone in EVERYTHING everyone says. that must take alot of brains.

@Botswana Meat Commission FC: Do you think Condoleeza Rice or Colin Powell would ever have to give a speech to denounce someone of Reverend Wright's ilk? or is that racist too? Get a new drum to bang.

@PolitickerFailed: read his book. He describes the incident where his grandmother was afraid at the bus stop. He deals with it in a sensitive and touching way and it just deomostrates that things in life are conplex as hell.

@The Belly Rub Bandit: @StoneSoup: Can't make anybody happy. Must be doing something right.

@Doglessliberal: I hear you. My dumb joke about his grandmother has more to do with Obama not kicking the Reverend to the curb for his remarks (like Samantha Power) and wasn't meant to minimize the complexity of his grandmother's experience or the lessons he has learned from it.

@PolitickerFailed: No worries Mr. Politicker-Failed! Emotions are running very high on this site because the Obama's supporters know that Obama's campaign is pretty much over with this minister and that lady on iraq and nafta and rezko and so on! I don't think anyone in America's midwest would touch Obama with a ten foot pole after this past week unless they are from Dearborn! Why doesn't Obama run for mayor of Dearborn! More his style.

It sure is getting hot in here! Whew! Open a window! Aah.,...much better. Good night from Wellington!