An excellent speech.

Because he covered the history of slavery and Jim Crow and the legacy effects of not allowing African Americans to accumulate wealth.

Because he said first understand, then condemn -- something folks on Slog might do a bit more often.

Because he said the whites have legitimate grievances, too.

And because he said this is the start of the discussion and it will not be resolved in one speech or one election cycle.

And, most of all, for being honest that anger and divisions are real, and the way forward is to openly address our flaws and limitations.

Now, let's apply to those thoughts to issues like Florida, electability, the intra party contest, how to win in the fall, and how to actually address the economy, the war, a foreign policy that makes more sense, etc.

What is best about Obama is he concedes the rightness or the core of some rightness on the other side, instead of dismissing the other side.

AS I've said over and over a great candidate and a great leader.

And to be honest:

he will need to then say what the next actual steps are on race, on schools, on the economy, and foreign policy, to actually win in the Fall.

that said, here's what yahoo and msn headlines are saying about it:

yahoo: Obama rejects pastor's remarks but says 'anger is real'

msn: Obama tackles race anger in major speech

having the word, anger, appear in the headlines isn't good for obama. i see both sites went with that angle isn't of his attempt to not focus on that. that's not good for obama, but we'll see if that's the general reception to the speech.

But I'm sure Clinton and McCain will find some way to throw more mud and slime him anyway - they're all about Hate and Fear ...

in his speech he talked about the mindset of people like his pastor or his grandmother, those who came of age during the civil rights era and view the systemic fissures in american society as anchored in the bedrock of our being. that they view these division to be immutable. yet we live in a country where a member of that very same congregation is running for the highest office in the land, and that it isn't doomed to failure.

i at once cringed and beamed because it is true. nothing is going to change unless we are the change we seek, so it is really up to us, the voters, to prove him right. if he loses, then that cynicism will have prevailed, and change will not only be put off, but the hope of those not tainted by the civil rights era will become equally disenchanted and hopeless in the capacity for representative democracy to affect real change.

this campaign is about so much more than identity politics, the economy, or any of the other "distractions" that obama referred to. this campaign is truly about the direction that this country is going to take into the future, and i truly truly hope that the right thing happens.

I don't know why people don't think he would be a great president. He gets issues so well, that sort of understanding and judgement is far above the vast majority of politicians. We need to get him in the whitehouse befor the political machine grinds him up too much.

I was worried that this would just prolong a bad story, but after seeing the whole speech I'm more committed to supporting Obama than ever. This is the guy we need as president in this moment in history. He gets the big picture in a way nobody else from either party does. What's more, this controversy has prompted him to speak out on race (and implicitly on class as well), so that for once he's finally articulating part of the Edwards message that drew me to support that candidacy.

I'm sure many elements of the media will try to spin this away as cynically as they can, and they might even succeed, but I don't think they will. The honest doubters, the ones who are open to listening and not just rejecting and hating outright, heard this speech as it was intended. On Slog, that means Clinton supporters like Big Sven and unPC. I think there are enough people willing to listen to constitute a winning majority come November.

Why not? What part of addressing the underlying issues that keep this country from really moving forward are not leadership qualities needed to run this country? The last eight years have been dominated by the actions of a man who acts without thought. Why not try thoughtful leadership for 4 or 8 years?

Is Obama really STILL talking? Even the Obamatons here at Slog have stopped listening. And his sign-holders are looking bored.

But yeah, blah blah blah unity One America inspire blah blah blah.

Hope and inspiration and leadership are for speeches. Wonky policy shit is for websites.

And, for those of you who think that a 40 minute speech is too much to watch, too much time spent explaining a position, too much words? You deserve McCain. You deserve Bush. Good luck with that "strong action" type. That's the type that screws us over. Time and time again.

Well, for those of us who actually care about what's best for the country, I think Obama voiced some extremely delicate and important points in an impressively constructive way. The characteristics and ability he showed this morning are exactly what we need in our next President. Someone who can make the citizens of this country think constructively about what's happened in the past, what's happening now, and what we should be doing to build on lessons learned to get where this country needs to go. No other current candidate has displayed this ability. Whether or not you support Obama, there are lessons to be learned from what he said, and he should be commended for saying what needed to be said so eloquently and effectively.

No longer. I want Obama for president and the father of my children.

This will be the first election where I actually WANT a candidate instead of just settling for the lesser of two evils.

Please nothing will ever change in this country because of people like Obama who claim they are for change but are not. Wake up people Obama is just like the rest of them. selfish and heart less and will say any thing to get elected, which should have been obvious because of this BS speech he gave. This guy has half the country thinking he's for change. I can't wait to see every one's dumbfounded face at the end of his four years. This country is in serious trouble and we need some one who actually cares about the people of this country not getting elected. I doubt that will happen any time soon.

However, this MSNBC footage almost sounded like a hip-hop video at first, because it sounded like he said "WeDaPeople" real fast on the audio track! [I guess "Da" is the hip-hop, or maybe Chicagoland, article for "The", as in "Da Bears" or "DaHomiesWhoAreChillinWitMe."]