http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTFLOu8fjxU

An interesting and I think ultimately fair take from a Conservative Republican and Minister...

"[Y]ou can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do. It's interesting to me that there are some people on the left who are having to be very uncomfortable with what ... Wright said, when they all were all over a Jerry Falwell, or anyone on the right who said things that they found very awkward and uncomfortable, years ago. Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon. Sermons, after all, are rarely written word for word by pastors like Rev. Wright, who are delivering them extemporaneously, and caught up in the emotion of the moment. There are things that sometimes get said, that if you put them on paper and looked at them in print, you'd say 'Well, I didn't mean to say it quite like that...

As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say 'That's a terrible statement!' ... I grew up in a very segregated South. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I'm gonna be probably the only conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you — we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names..." - Mike Huckabee.

How much do you get paid by the Clinton campaign? Can I get in on that racket?

It was indeed an excellent speech, but a few points

a) let's give him credit for the content, well-deserved credit, but not so much for giving the speech. It was a speech he had to give and he knew it. The Wright quotes were a potential firestorm and there was some evidence in polls they were already having an effect. He had no choice but to give such a speech. Had he given it three months ago, I'd give him the credit. Now? Not so much

b) Let's also be clear that Obama acted like a politician here. He was absolutely "Clintonian" in his first response, stating that he "hadn't been in the pews" during those specific "comments". Had Clinton given the same sort of response to a similar situation, she would have been torn apart. Obama wised up to how unbelievable this statement was and made it clear he was aware of Wright's beliefs. A smart move but again, a "political" one. As was his choosing to distance himself only now, when it became a political issue, rather than when he first ran, even though Wright himself is on record as saying the two of them discussed a year ago the likelihood of this distancing. Is this unusually political? Of course not. It's just like any other and every other politician would do; the problem for Obama is he runs on not being like any other politician.

c) You do Obama no service by comparing him to Lincoln or MLK. Could we please hold off on the beatification of the man until he does something? And I say that as someone who likes him a lot. But c'mon--Lincoln and MLK? Seriously? It's like Republicans wanting to put Reagan on Mount Rushmore. Lincoln himself might not have been Lincoln were it not for the War. So let's give Obama all the credit he deserves, which is a lot, but let's not go crazy here. It makes it too easy to dismiss anything valid praise for him.

d) could any other candidate have given this speech? Yes (though I don't blame them for not since Obama didn't until he had to) and some have or similar ones. But I'm not sure any other one could have given it with the same sense of authority, of being grounded in the concepts discussed rather than having them be abstract notions or seen from a single racial viewpoint. Obama's mixed heritage in and of itself is I think transformative, more so than any speech he gives, and I think it's simply a harbinger of things to come. Welcome to the new world--he's a good scout for what's to come

e) I think his attempts to diminish Wright's comments by comparing them to Ferraro's or his grandmother's were unfortunate. There is no real comparison there (and I say that as someone sympathetic to some of Wright's underlying arguments and as someone who thinks too much is made of the remarks of associates of the two candidates) and it again is a blatantly "political" move, rather than a sincere one

f) his use of a zoom out basis--placing the speech in historical context and placing the concerns of both whites and blacks side by side and according each a fair discussion of the truths at the core of some of those concerns

...and devotes blockquotes to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's contraversial statements.

That's fucked up.

is what we need today in America...transcendence of the sort that shows real leadership...and I think the white, formerly working class media representatives need to lay off the white, working class folks in Scranton, PA, and elsewhere. These folks actually know how to read and write, and some even have black grandchildren, or children, or cousins, or ..whatever....

I asked one white, working class friend from...Scranton, what her thoughts were. Her response: he's still my choice, and my white, working class Republican husband thinks so too.

I know the polls show something different, but I think you'll be surprised at the number of people who really want to fix this stuff. People are tired of fighting all of the time. And at some point you end up fighting your own family...if you know what I mean.

I'm a Clinton supporter, and I thought it was a wonderful speech. He spoke honestly about the issue and his belief. His defense of his involvement in his church was excellent.

If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I would be proud to do all I can for him to win the election.