Obama's Speech

I'm not much more willing to think about race than anyone else. I cringe when I hear the rolling tones of professional orators on the subject, and I flinch when I hear the carefully picked words of politicians on the subject. If I hear both at once, its as if I am afflicted by St. Vitus' Dance.

When Obama made his speech, I read it. I hate to admit it, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. He didn't say I was right in the way I feel, and he didn't unequivocably defend his pastor's comments. I didn't expect the first, but I sort-of expected the second. Some of the things he said made sense to me; others, I thought were 'I need to tie this to my campaign; heres how I do that'. I'm not really good at extracting underlying meaning, though, so I could be wrong. Overall, I didn't think it was a magnificient speech -- which relieved me. Perhaps I expect too little of myself, but magnificient speeches scare me, a bit. They set the bar way too high. Just saying that we need to think about race is a scary concept. Its probably right, but its scary.

I would bet that he would not have brought up the concept if he hadn't been forced to do so. I wonder about that.

This New York Times column makes a couple of points that I hadn't elicited.