The reality of the speech... great oratory, bad politics.... imho, of course

[Texas Hill Country]

It was a great oratory. Fantastic. There is no two ways about it.

BUT

It will not serve his politics well.

1. There was no catchphrase, no soundbite, so single thing the public could grab on to, no phrase that made it unique. There are a couple problems with this.

A. There is no clip to loop on every newscast. This will loose the soundbite battle vs the Wright speeches, which were tailor made for soundbite news.

B. We will, forever more, have to describe it as "Obama's More Perfect Union Speech." This is unlike the "I Have A Dream" Speech or the "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You" speech or even the "Tear Down This Wall" speech.... every one reading this knows exactly who said it and can probably even hear the voice, see the film clip, remember the time...

This speech will not be one of those speeches. In 10 years, 20 years, 30 years... When someone says "More Perfect Union"... Jefferson, Constitution, etc is what they think... not Obama.

Words are important Obama, and this is why you should use your own.


2. Perhaps the biggest folley is that it was given at 8P/10E in the morning on a tuesday. WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU GIVE A KEY NATIONAL SPEECH AT 10AM ON A FRIGGIN TUESDAY MORNING!!!! ESPECIALLY ONE WITHOUT A SOUNDBITE!!!

So there is no little 15sec clip, no memorable catchphrase, no nothing. In order to have the effectiveness of this speech come across, you have to hear the whole speech... so why would you choose 10am Tuesday morning... DUMB.




Anyway, those are my thoughts. And while I am a Clinton supporter, I do realize that Barak will likely be the nominee and really wanted him to hit this one out of the park... unfortunately, i dont think he did.

[Johnny__Motown]

1. some people put Truth above Politics..

[Texas Hill Country]

3. Dont disagree... but politics is reality and wins elections.

[Johnny__Motown]

14. He pretty much has the nomination battle won. and how can you condense this country's racial problem

into a 15 second sound bite?

[FrenchieCat]

4. And some DUers put politics over truth.

I disagree with the op.

We do have a choice.

[Umbram]

7. That becomes more obvious looking at some of the anti-Obama crowd right now

and how desperately they are trying to spin this speech.

[Exilednight]

2. I'm here because of Ashley. I here by annoint this the Ashley speech.

[kwenu]

9. Duly noted and Agreed.

[Hepburn]

10. A-fucking-men!

Mustard and relish sandwiches...I started bawling at this point of the speech whereas before, it was merely tears running down my face!

[Tatiana]

5. "This union may never be perfect but generation after generation has shown it can be PERFECTED."

Sweet.

[Texas Hill Country]

8. great line, not a defining one tho imho

[MonkeyFunk]

Only the supremely irrational believed

this would be a speech remembered decades from now.

Most great speeches need an event behind them - an inauguration, a march on Washington, etc. This was ultimately a purely political speech trying to address a problem with his campaign. It was very good, though, but I think it's silly to think it'll enter the public consciousness as one of the all-time great ones.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

12. Sally Quinn is "irrational"? She just called this the most important speech on race since 1963's

"I have a dream".

[ProgressiveEconomist]

6. Lee Cowan (MSNBC) calls this the "Racial Stalemate" speech. THERE's yr soundbyte

[jackson_dem]

11. It should help him a bit but he is so far down it is too little, too late

Obama is getting his just deserts for what he did to the Clintons on race.

[haymakeragain]

13. Help me out a bit here, if you don't mind,

what planet are you living on?

[Joe the Revelator]

15. So far down?

You mean still leading the tracking polls, even when all 4 days have Wright influencing them

You mean still leading the popular vote, states won and delegate count?

You mean still down as in picking up 15 SD on Hillary since this all began?

If thats being down, I don't want to be up.