The Brian Lehrer Show

Gee, I wonder if Fox News will go back to playing clips of Wright or engage in serious analysis of the issues like Obama suggested ...

I can't ever remember not even getting a circuit open to call in after this speech.

Yes, this was a watershed speech in American history.

I wish I could get through...so all I can do is shamelessly promote my blog, where I hope to do this moment justice.

....oh, my blog is at:

www.theamericanrace.typepad.com

I think this speech was something America needed to hear. It wasn't just political, it was human. Race is just so divisive and it's great to hear such honesty. The only thing that I think is unfortunate is that only a black man can make this speech. Maybe that could change if he gets into office. He's the first person I've ever thought could affect such a change. I was very inspired by it and called a few people to have them tune in to listen.

The election/campaign is not about race exclusively. Granted, Obama better be an expert in mediating, understanding, improving ....etc etc ...racial relations - How does this help the US today with all its grave problems?

this guy is a very confused caller: I think what Obama did is absolutely correct,

disagreeing with someone's comments does not have to lead into dis-owing that person. That would have been typical exclusively political move, he once again offered a more nuanced and articulate view of society rather than a black and white simplistic reduction

Lord, will we ever get away from the politics of:

"If you can't pronounce 'shibboleth'... "--i.e.-- if you ever had any association with someone condemned as unclean--we must throw you under the bus.???

This was absolutely the most brilliant speech on race that I have ever heard. This was a wonderful way to speak the truth. Your silly caller James is all about trying to say that racism is all over. It ain't over. I loved the references to the white ethnic immigrant perspective.

I'm a Hillary supporter but I must say that I was impressed with his speech. He was on point with validating the racisim that exisits in this country. I particulary liked that he refocused on the real issues that impacts all nationalities-Health insurance, War, Jobs ect. He's turning out to be more dynamic and complext than he has led on during his campaigning.

I'm ashamed on behalf of the last caller, the white man who complained that Wright isn't giving white progressives enough credit for trying to end the drug problem in inner cities. First of all, nothing I've heard from Wright is hateful towards white people; he may condemn the U.S. government, but I haven't heard him condemn all white people.

Second of all, get a grip, guy. Does the fact that white progressives like you (and like me, for the record) are dedicated to ending injustice mean that you expect black people to magically purge themselves of all bitterness resulting from racism in this country?

Mr. Obama shows that he continues to be the master of rhetorical flourishes. But this is not enough to make up for the lack of substance which permeates his presentation.

Did a presidential candidate just quote Faulkner? Pinch yourself.

What struck me was the extent to which this speech was as much about class as about race. He mentioned "opportunity" 4 times, and talked about those from all backgrounds finding commonality in the experience of daily struggle. Impressive turn; honest, historical, and, just as he noted, the necessary place to start.

Do we really want to open up a dialogue on the religious figures that politicians have a relationship with? Then let's start with Billy Graham's relationship with republican presidents from Nixon to Bush.

Graham has made statements about "Jewish domination of the media," and in the 90s said, "Is AIDS a judgment of God? I could not say for sure, but I think so."

Many politicians have a "relationship" with shady religious figures, why do we focus on the black politicians relationships unequally?

I am proud of Obama for making such a nuanced speech and being willing to address real issues about race, class, etc. in an honest way. I voted for Obama but I was mixed doing so, because I wasn't sure if I was doing it as a result of "Obamamomentum" or because there was something real there. Listening to him speak about complicated issues in a complicated way - in fact treating Americans as if we are actually capable of understanding complex issues rather than dumbing everything down - made me confident in my vote. He is a leader who would be able to approach the difficulties of the issues that would be before him taking into account every shade of grade and not just black and white.

The speech was real. If you wanted rhetoric and sound bites, he didn't deliver. If you looked for a person investigating a relationship, its difficulties and ways to bring it forward, he knocked it out of the park. My kids, parents and friends have done and many things I abhored and haven't made me proud, but I don't disown them - I educate them, and if that's not possible - I forgive them.

I think that Obama made the source of his decision to associate with Rev Wright plain when he pointed to his experience of faith and identification with the spiritual environment of the church as he read the excerpt from his book. In some ways Rev Wright introduced Obama to the Christian gospel. For anyone who has had such an experience they could understand why this is a significant association like "family."

he's as careful and calculating as anybody ever accused Hillary or any other politician of being

I have been a committed Clinton supporter throughout this campaign. After this speech I am seriously considering transferring my support to Senator Obama. He makes sense.

Great speech! I was moved to tears. I thought he explained eloquently how and why he was associated with Wright, as well as making me feel that there is a voice of understanding and realism that is completely missing in American politics. I would be more than proud to say he was our president.

Amazing...the people who want to deny the underlying truth in his speech...current caller who thinks Barack shouldn't have incorporated his Grandmother's racism into the speech.

Don't you get it: that's the point; the ignorance of racism, and the reactions to it compounded over generations is in our DNA!

Obama is right; we will not get this through everyone's head in one election cycle. But God bless him for the courage to start to try, when the stakes are so high for him.

That was and will prove to be a historic speech. Obama was between a rock and hard place, condemn his pastor, lose votes, support his pastor, lose votes, instead he chose to tell the truth. What politician in recent memory has dared to do that?

Greenwald sez:

"But the idea that America deserves terrorist attacks and other horrendous disasters has long been a frequently expressed view among the faction of white evangelical ministers to whom the Republican Party is most inextricably linked. Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God. John Hagee continues to believe that the City of New Orleans got what it deserved when Katrina drowned its residents and devastated the lives of thousands of Americans. And James Inhofe -- who happens to still be a Republican U.S. Senator -- blamed America for the 9/11 attacks by arguing in a 2002 Senate floor speech that "the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America" because we pressured Israel to give away parts of the West Bank."

Enough with the minister nonsense already.

Racism exists; It exists in all kinds of institutions including churches; I didn't need Obama to tell me that...We're all delighted that a political candidate can come out to talk about it the way he has, and it takes a black man to do that (H. Clinton can't carry the credibility on these things that he can)...What about telling us something we don't know, Mr. Obama, like how our lives will be better when you're president?

What is extraordinary about this speech (besides its historical, political, and rhetorical excellences) is that Obama refused to throw his spiritual mentor under the bus. The comparison with his white grandmother was spot-on: my white grandfather was racist too, but I honor his memory nonetheless.

yes elect the black guy because in that way they will pay reparation for their "evil". Yes indeed it is the devil in whites and asians and hispanics that keep the good poor blacks from going to work, attending school and not smoking crack!

this country is going from worse to real worse!!!

In regards to his comment about Ferraro, my feeling is that it was intended as a barb against the Clinton campaign that distanced themselves from Ferraro unlike himself who has a much more nuanced relationship with the person being criticized. (Of course, Ferraro was talking directly about the candidate which could be compared with Obama's firing of his advisor who called Hillary a monster...)

It's an excellent speech, but it doesn't mean he will carry through. Ralph Nader described him as (the first) liberal evangelist. And that if you look at the record, not what he says, but what he has done, it's pretty middle of the road.

I thought the speech was incredibly moving and marked a significant moment in American politics. As someone who is younger and who believes strongly in progressive change, I hope the questions and thoughts he raised continue to be discussed. Finally, it seems there is some chance of a more substantial political discourse taking root than is usually the norm. The first step to achieving the policies his campaign has advocated is strongly arguing why we need to move in that direction, which I believe he has done.

Had Obama condemned the Pastor and asserted that he will have nothing further to do with the man as some have suggested he should have (although since Wright already retired, that's moot), everyone would have assailed him for not owning up to the relationship.

Regarding political expedience -- perhaps it was politically expedient for Senator Obama to join the church, perhaps it was politically expedient for him to give this speech now. What action or spoken word of the current presidential candidates or any presidential candidate in the past decades was devoid of political expedience?

Lastly, (in response to BL's question about joining the church) Obama did mention the reasons he joined the church, though not as specifically as I might have liked: he mentioned educational programs for the community, assistance to those ill with HIV-AIDS, programs in the prisons, day care -- Obama intimated that this was attractive to him. More could be disclosed about this.

amazing speech, moving, sincere, and true! great job obama, now let's all focus on the issues that impact all of america in moving us towards a more just nation!

The speech was brilliant and, I believe, will be quoted by many in years to come.

The thing I heard no one speak to was that much of this speech was an appeal to the media to stop jumping on every negative comment about every candidate instead of stressing the good that these campaigns can inspire in the voting public.

I wish every citizen could take the time to read this speech carefully and relish the sincere sentiments I believe it enunciates.

Great speech. Some callers seem not to be convinced that Obama has separated himself from the Reverend or that he has separated himself out enough as a candidate with more specific policies, but what he accomplished in this speech should not be overlooked! He addressed race in America in a way that is consistent with his ideal to bring people together despite their differences, and if you think that doesn't need to be addressed, you're wrong. This is a conversation that almost happened with real progress after Imus's inflammatory comments, but somehow, despite the interest in many to speak up, it somehow fizzled out with no real progress. Obama addressed the good, the bad, and the ugly as reality (all of our reality, no matter the community in which you live), and he took a personal stand, which was brave and necessary to move forward. I was moved and I walk away with an important POV on an important issue, but one that makes him rise above taking sides.

P.S. I think Ferraro's comments speak to some of the problems with affirmative action - a good intentioned person who fundamentally believes that both her and his advancement has to do with gender and race. But isn't their success due more to their qualifications combined with necessary and unique POVs in a white, male-dominated hierarchy? Her comments seemed to undermined affermative action.

Obama has had to explain in great detail his relationship with his pastor, whereas McCain has not had to disavow his relationship and his endorsements from Hagee (who denounced the Catholic Church) and Parsley (who has advocated a war against Islam). In addition, the Republican candidates have not denounced the song "why should God bless America" sung at the Values Voters Conference. Why isn't the media holding McCain up to the same scrutiny?

I voted for Senator Clinton in the primary. Thought the comments post Senator Obama's speech (and I left watching Obama on TV to get away from remarks by the usual political commentators, and deliberately provocative press commentary) on your show were, with a couple of exceptions, by people who were NOT LISTENING to what was a singularly brilliant analysis of the contemporary racial and national state of things. It was moving, and covered a vast scope of its complex subject in a particularly understanding and understandable way. I even wondered if one of your first speakers was set up to call and tear the speech apart as he certainly sounded, as he repeated what Obama had said as though Obama HAD NOT said it, as if he had it all written out ahead of time. Why were all the callers Men? Especially men who were (I am an 80 year old white woman, by the way) certainly not black men. Frankly, as we are still living with a President who is without compassion and understanding, let alone his many other failings, including in intelligence and ability to run a complex place like the US, I have come to believe, we BETTER vote for a candidate who comprehends the complexity of the problems we face and how they all are inter-related.

I'm with Freud: Religion isn't worth the problems it creates.

I felt the majority of the negative callers were willfully misunderstanding the speech.

Two points--

1) The relationship with one's pastor, no matter how close and no matter how outsized the pastor's personality, is not and should not be the determining factor in one's ongoing membership. Many relationships are formed over time and these relationships become as central, as critical as one's individual relationship with one's pastor. So to question why Obama joined and why he stayed at Trinity is to misunderstand or dismiss the nature of of the complex web of relationships that are formed and refined in a congregation.

2) What Obama didn't wade into, and probably shouldn't have, regarding the Rev. Wright's comments is that they are in line with a prophetic tradtion that goes back thousands of years, to the prophets of Jewish Scripture. It was and is the role of the prophet to "speak truth to power", to excoriate the powerful, to question the policies and principles of those who govern the people. So in addition to being a patriot, as his military service attests, in addition to being a pastor and community leader, it seems that the Rev. Wright is also something of a prophet, in the commonly held religious understanding of this word.

o.k. three points-- the speech spoke to my soul and my history and my politics.

There should no longer be any doubt in anyone's mind that Mr. Obama is the ideal candidate for President of these United States. His speech today showed a clear thinking sorely lacking in all the other candidates and politicians, bar none. He's proven with this speech that he has the ability to see all sides of an issue, takes the time to research his facts, and has the will to address difficult issues. He shows tolerance and understanding for all involved who initiated his need to speak his mind today. What better person do we have right now who can show the same tolerance and understanding in international affairs, as well as our domestic one?

I don't think Hillary is the person for the job (and God forbid we get McCain!). When she was in the White House & her husband got that call at 3am from anywhere in the Middle East, he just rolled over & buried his head in the pillow. Do we think his bed-mate (theoretically his wife) had any influence on his decisions? It could be said that he initiated the problems we're having there now because of his inaction. Same with South America. If she's so strong, why was she silent on his policies there?

Obama's speech today seemed to be the first honest voice I've heard from any of the candidates. God Bless America for Mr. Obama!

As a "bi-racial" female, I'm thrilled that someone is finally talking honestly about race AND class in this country. There's something to be said for his unorthodox background - he's had to adapt to many different cultures and environments.

Obama is the only American candidate who could communicate with Middle Eastern leaders. Don't even think of sending Hillary out there. Everything that puts him at risk in November is EXACTLY why he'd be great on the international level. It's time to unite behind Obama. I just hope to God he demands that Americans finally get involved post-election in fixing our country and our reputation around the world. It's going to be an uphill battle.

I agree that this was an amazing speech. I have felt from the beginning that Obama is a special candidate and today it became clear to me why. Everyone has been staking out positions on all the expected issues- healthcare, the war, the economy etc but today Obama reached higher and asked us to reach higher. He made us who listened think really look at race-how we have dealt with it and how we need to deal with it. He is asking us to think, to question and to examine our own thoughts. To be honest. He is asking us to stretch rather than pandering to our partisan positions. Hillary and McCain will give you a checklist of positions on issues. Obama has his too. But he has surprised me. He has reminded me that we should be striving for more- a bigger vision of who we are. I was too young to experience Kennedy first hand so this is the first time in my life that I have experienced a politician who is striving for something bigger than tax cuts or universal healthcare. Yes we can get those checklists of wants and needs but maybe we can get something more.

I am listening to the a.m. replay of your program on Obama's race speech and I have to say, Brian, I am dissapointed in how much bias you have shown in your support of Obama in parsing his speech and responding to callers. You are truly exercising the power of your position on the radio to help the cause of this politician.

Cleary, the Rev. Wright's language was over the top, but the sentiment reflects a sad truth. Who can honestly say that this nation has achieved both freedom and equity for the descendants of enslaved Africans? Why do too many Americans fail or refuse to understand African-American anger?

Perhaps it would have been better if the Rev. Wright had quoted Lincoln.

"Woe unto the world because of offences….If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible [civil] war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him?”

“Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil* shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.’ ”

* And a century of Jim Crow, decades of neglect, and sub rosa resentment of efforts of achieve racial equity.

I speak as a progressive Australian who views all of the US as a sick joke.

I found the discussion of the Obama speech quite amusing. So called "progressives" condemning the reverend's speech. The only thing I heard the reverend say that was not the truth was that the AIDS virus had been purposely manufactured to kill black men.

I am sure that if the white men, and especially the racist Jewish white men had thought of it, they would have done it.

Remember the treatment of the "schwartz" maid by Alex's mother in "Portnoy's Complaint"? That was Phillip Roth, a jew, telling it like it is people.

You can't be a progressive and a Zionist fascist at the same time. This is the contradiction at the heart of the American intelligentsia. They can't call a spade a spade. Or rather, a kike a kike.

I am a jew, by the way, but one of those who does not believe in genocide as salvation.