Let me wallow in my idealism

[dayakara]

Obama's speech on race yesterday brought what had been a nasty, cynical election process to a refreshing and historic level.  I'm inspired, and yes I've read most of the nastygrams about how the speech didn't go far enough or he should've thrown his minister under the bus or whatever.  Whatever.

My usual political cynicism has temporarily vanished

Comments

[matt_nothing]

You and me both, buddy. A lot of my friends have given up on the system but I'm truly excited about Obama and the idea of good and positive change that could come with him.

[theheretic]

Tomorrow is the equinox. Its a holy day for Celts like me. So you get a pass. After that, you can return to dealing with cynicism once more.

[deanlover82]

I'm planning my wedding to Obama. Beat that for idealism.

[dayakara]

I dunno. I think Michelle's pretty cool too. I might have to stay in her corner when this all plays out. But hooray for long lost idealism!

[nebulachica]

Well, I'm sure you know my feelings about Obama, and his "highly-lauded" speech. Apparently, according to the *unbiased* media, he was really "shaken up" about this whole racism thing. It's funny though, how two decades of listening to the same messages didn't have that effect, but only the public's awareness of his religious activities made him suddenly have an epiphany about racism.

I see you wrote this yesterday. Ok, so I gave you a day to wallow happily:-p I can bash you much more next week!

[dayakara]

Seriously, I don't think any other politician from either party has made such a straightforward and real speech on race -- at least in my lifetime. Even if Obama doesn't get the nomination or a victory in November, he managed to at least elevate the issue and get people to think seriously about it, and he did the topic way way better justice than the crap we've been fed by the main stream media and political hacks. I'm not from a mixed race family, so I can't say he had some kind of sudden "epiphany," since he probably was living with these issues his whole life. But, ok, maybe the timing was right and for the first time there was actually an audience for such a speech. I think time will show that it really was historic and hopefully led to better dialogue. You do at least acknowledge that there is a lot of misunderstanding in the U.S. when it comes to race, right

[nebulachica]

Yes, I understand racism is still alive in the US, but, to me, he didn't really address the specific issue of his preacher. Well, he did neatly put the blame on the Constitution, but the speech itself didn't do anything for me. I think a lot of us were hoping he might help us understand how he can listen to someone make hateful statements for 20 years, not agree with them, yet not say a thing to the guy.

Individually, he *might* be an ok guy, but I don't like the kind of behavior he has condoned on his campaign. It speaks volumes about the sort of people with whom he would surround myself. For example, he pretends to be completely unaware of the violent behavior of his staff towards Hillary's people at caususes. And his fervent supporters have threatened to riot at the convention, should the superdelegates not go their way. Obama's failure to address that issue, and many others, fails to impress me and instead leaves me with a feeling of dread.

[pegysus]

We're happily wallowing with you ....