Obama Urges U.S.: 'Move Beyond Our Old Racial Wounds'

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Obama's 'A More Perfect Union' Speech

Barack Obama spoke Tuesday in Philadelphia about his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, and addressed the nation's racial struggles.

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Of Wright, he said: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me . . . but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

The same kind of anger that exists within the black community also exists "within segments of the white community," Obama said. "Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race." Many, he said, work hard to make ends meet, only to see their children bused to school across town or lose a job or a space in a coveted school to an African American who is given advantages because of past discrimination.

"To wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns -- this, too, widens the racial divide and blocks the path to understanding. This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years."

Both whites and blacks, Obama said, must recognize "what ails" the other -- and embrace, as he said Wright has not, the idea that America can change. "This union may never be perfect," he said. "But generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), who competed against Obama in the Democratic race, praised the speech as a powerful statement about racial relations. "He told the story of America -- both the good and the bad -- and I believe his speech will come to represent an important step forward in race relations in our country," Biden said in a statement.

But one Democratic strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to offer a candid assessment, said the political problem facing Obama "is deeper than a speech."

Obama and his advisers were nervous even after the address. They conceded that they had no idea how it would be received either by the uncommitted superdelegates, who are looking for him to show mettle and leadership under fire, or by voters in upcoming primary states, including Pennsylvania, which will hold the next contest on April 22.

Clinton, who appeared in Philadelphia Tuesday morning for an Iraq-focused event that featured former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, said she had not read the speech but "I'm very glad he gave it."

"Issues of race and gender in America have been complicated throughout our history, and they are complicated in this primary campaign," Clinton said during her appearance at City Hall. "There have been detours and pitfalls along the way, but we should remember that this is an historic moment for the Democratic Party and for our country. We will be nominating the first African American or woman for the presidency of the United States, and that is something that all Americans can and should celebrate."