Obama's Racial Plea

"There is a key difference between Obama's grandmother and Rev. Wright. Not only is his connection with Wright voluntary, but Obama selected Wright to be his spiritual leader. If he still says Wright is 'part of me' (and he can longer claim that he doesn't know the full scope of Wright's hatred of 'white America'), then he should be judged for containing that 'part.'

"It will not do to say that Wright is 'part of America.' Lots of deplorable people are part of America, including white racists. Political candidates are not required to embody every strand of America, much less the most noxious hate-filled ones. Political candidates embrace the strands that speak to them, and we should embrace the political candidates whose strands of thinking speak to us."

At the Nation, John Nichols faults the media for a simplistic debate:

"Obama did not do the politically 'smart' thing. He did the right thing. And that is why his campaign will weather this storm . . .

"At the most basic level, Obama did what the media has failed to do. He presented Wright and Wright's comments on U.S. domestic and foreign policies in context: the context of the African-American religious experience, the context of the candidate's connection to the church and, above all, the context of this country's unresolved experience of what Obama correctly refers to as 'the original sin' of the American experiment -- human bondage -- and its legacy. The speech was masterful in this regard."

Many at National Review turn thumbs down, but Charles Murray, whose past writings on race have been controversial, says:

"Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant--rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols."

HuffPost contributor Jon Robin Baitz is thrilled by the address:

"We saw and heard a preview of our brightest possible American future in Senator Barack Obama's glorious speech. This, then, is what it means to be presidential. To be moral. To have a real center. To speak honestly, from the heart, for the benefit of all. If there was any doubt about what we have missed in the anti-intellectual, ruthlessly incurious Bush years, and even the slippery Clinton ones (the years of 'what is is'), those doubts were laid to rest by Barack Obama's magisterial speech. A speech in which he distanced himself from a flawed father figure, Reverend Wright, and did so with almost Shakespearian dignity and honor."

When someone invokes Shakespeare, it's a pretty clear sign of approval.

Obama talked about whites as well as blacks, as Time's Ana Marie Cox notes:

"He said some things that echo arguments liberals (not just black politicians) have made in the past: Wright's comments are rooted in a history of real racism. But he also did something that seems completely unique to him, both as a liberal and a black politician: He acknowledged -- maybe even acknowledged as legitimate -- the anger that working-class whites feel about busing, affirmative action, and other sources of racial friction, as a parallel to the anger of Wright's congregation. A powerful moment, and it suggests that there is substance to his vision of bridging racial divides."