You have a good heart, you really do. But a couple of points:

1. We cannot begin electing our government officials based on what the rest of the world wants. That will only lead to disaster.

2. Race is an important factor, and if we were to _really_ become colorblind in this country it would work wonders (and that is not hyperbole). But -- I repeat -- I believe that only _time_ can heal that wound, not political intervention. It would be a waste of valuable time and resources. In my mind, it would be the equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns.

As I have said to many others, good luck in getting your candidate into the White House.

Peace

well yes i can. the speech was history of racism for 3rd graders, in addition to being totally politically motivated and disingenuous at points. it does not belong in the history of great speeches. please take your obamaton glasses off.

We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

Some of his supporters are eager to defend Wright ("his anger is justified") while negatively criticizing Ferraro. If her comments were made in part out of feminist anger, is this not also "justified?"

Obama is counting on the people to hold the politician's feet to the fire (this will include his own two feet). That's why he wants to include a lot of people. That's why his speechs repeatedly mention good plans failing for lack of political will. The people have to fire the politicians. That will take a movement or a sea change in government participation. What is derided as a cult following is exactly what is needed t to break the current cycle.

This strategy is more likely to work than sending in some lone paladin that likes to fight, IM!HO Can enough people get involved and stay involved? Good question.

I think we would all do well to take Barack's counsel on this.

I think that the most covertly and overtly racist thing in 21st-century America is not the utterance of the N word, but in denying that race is not still an issue and a problem in this country. By denying it, claiming it's all in the past, that the mere mention of it is false victimization, or my favorite "playing the race card", we attempt to sweep it under the rug while not addressing the problems it continues to plague our nation with today. The people who claim the loudest that there is no race problem, or none worth talking about, are the people who don't have to deal with its ramifications. The race card cannot be played unless it's in the deck in the first place. The race card cannot be played unless it's dealt.

This nation is far from having put race behind us. Some have commented that it is distructive for Obama to make race an issue in this campaign. Obama is not making race an issue. Obama is dealing with an issue that already exists in this campaign. By doing so, he is asking us to think about what our focus should be on, the issues that affect us all - the economy, the war, healthcare, education, etc. These are issues we all struggle with, regardless of race. But it's difficult to deal with the substance of the issues the next president must deal with while we are bogged down in these issue of who said what and what it meant and who denounced it without rejecting it and which hole the Alice descended while chasing the March Hare.

And all the while, gas is over three dollars a gallon, the elderly can't afford their medication and utitilities, our children-fathers-mothers-sisters-brothers continue to die on foreign soil fighting a war to raise the profits of Halliburton, and more of us have no place to call home. But what do we argue about? Ow, he hurt my feelings. Ow, she hurt my feelings.

At over 200 years old, don't you think it's time we grow up? So what, you don't like the color of my skin - keep it to yourself and let's make sure our children can get an education without getting shot on campus. So what, someone got the job and you didn't - grow up, happens to us all, deserving and undeserving alike. Don't like how if feels, fight for justice. Then no one gets what they don't deserve. So what, you don't like what a black preacher said - ever listen to Pat Robertson, John Hagee, or Rod Parsley? I hope Jesus is more Christian than those who profess to speak for him. Whether you say it's foreign policy or God's vengeance on a wicked society - we were attacked. Meanwhile, we're going bankrupt fighting a war we can't win in a country that doesn't want us there, on the other side of the world.

Don't like the way things are - fight for peace, justice, charity, and brotherhood - instead of fighting one another.

Obama will say anything to get elected?

You mean things like, I was secretly against NAFTA even as I was out giving speeches in favor of it?

Don't get me started...

"It'll take time?" You can take all the time you want twiddling your fingers....I'm going on to bigger and better, I'm going to Obama.

As far as time goes, there's no time like the present.

Through Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and W I have never heard a president specifically talk about race with the complexity Obama did today. At most any mention of race never strayed from the idea that "Racism is bad, M'kay?". I can't remember a serious presidental contender giving this type of speech.

I've rarely heard _anyone_, let alone a politician, connect both the struggle against segregation and the legitimate resentment lower and middle class white people have with issues such as busing and affirmative action. Never have I heard it laid out in such an elequent manner. Maybe if I go back and read the speeches of Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, or Thomas Jefferson I would find a common spark, but right here in this time it is Barack Hussien Obama who is putting into words the sense of injustice and hope for a better future that people from all walks of life feel but can have difficulty articulating.

With the possibilty in our reach of having a leader that can steer this country towards a more perfect union for all its citizens, I have to beg forgiveness if I don't seem concerned about whether universal health care has to be mandated or if people can opt out. The details will work themselves out as long as we have leaders that understand the fundemental concerns of all Americans.