Obama's Speech, Sliced and Diced

"Obama put a new twist on his message of hope about a post-racial politics in America: he said America's not there yet, and that his candidacy, even if it succeeds, isn't enough to bring her there. Rather than try to counter the injection of race into the campaign, Obama administered an extra dose, hoping the live virus can also act as a vaccine."

Salon Editor Joan Walsh:

"Obama's stirring talk -- one of the most important addresses on race we've heard in recent memory -- was brave and poignant. But it was also disturbing in places, and may not put the Wright issue completely to rest.

"In his speech Obama tried to distance himself from Wright's more outrageous remarks, while honoring and preserving the personal -- and frankly political -- strength he's derived from his affiliation with the church and his spiritual mentor. It was a perilous move for Obama, and it's not clear he succeeded. . . .

"While I don't doubt his campaign's contention that he wasn't in the pews when Wright made some of his more outrageous charges, immortalized on tape and video, it's been hard to believe Obama was unfamiliar with Wright's overall harsh and sometimes paranoid political analysis."

Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse likes the style but not the substance:

"Generally, I thought it was thoughtful, well delivered, and brutally honest in places.

"But I think Obama revealed more than he wanted to about exactly what kind of a candidate he truly is. Having eschewed labels like 'liberal' for the entire campaign, the speech left little doubt that Barack Obama is a dyed in the wool Democratic liberal who sees blacks and whites equally as victims of 'conservatives' and sees big government, statist solutions to our problems."

While Rick was composing these thoughts, his brother Terry was interviewing Obama for "Nightline." Last year, in fact, Terry Moran was asked about Rick's nuthouse:

"I love my brother something fierce. I am very proud of him. We do not agree on many, many things (as decades of uncomfortably loud dinner table disagreements have demonstrated). In no way do I endorse anything he writes; that's not for me to do here. But I will never disavow him. I will always defend him as an honorable man."

Interesting parallel, no?

You can almost sense the media's deflation over the release of Hillary Clinton's first lady schedule. "In some ways," says the NYT, "they provide support for Mrs. Clinton's assertion that she played a central public and private role in the policies of the Clinton administration."