Bravo Obama!

It's already being said in many quarters that Barack Obama's has given the most significant speech on the racial divide in America since the 'I Have a Dream' speech that Martin Luther King gave at the Lincoln Monument in 1963, and one of the most important political speeches given in the last couple of decades.

I have to agree.

The first political campaign that I took part in was before I could even vote. I was seventeen. It was the mayoral campaign for Carl Stokes, who emerged in 1967 as the first black mayor of a major American city, Cleveland. My grandmother who was a prominent local Republican activist had gotten me a volunteer gig outside the county courthouse receiving the metal ballot boxes driven in from the precincts for counting. We would grab them out of cars and vans pulling up to the curb and pile them on carts that were taken across the street where we would place them on a ramp that led down into the courthouse basement.

Stokes had first run and narrowly lost in 1965 just as I was becoming aware of the larger world outside of my childhood. In 1966 the Hough riots shook the city and circumstances made me a witness as it was the summer of my first year in high school and I was attending the Outward Bound program at a college on the East Side of Cleveland. This became the staging ground for the National Guard forays into neighborhoods, and the university was like an elite fortress that thrust itself into the middle of the ghetto. Most of my friends in the program were black and Puerto Rican, and by the time Stokes ran again in '67 I had become thoroughly radicalized and assimilated into a different view of the world than the one I had grown up into.

I remember that election night distinctly. Early on I was threatened by a young Republican for wearing a "Carl Stokes For Mayor" button. Later on, after the votes were in I remember walking across the middle of downtown to the Stokes campaign headquarters where a huge street party was held, and I remember the ecstatic feeling of having not only won an election but having made some kind of history.

Listening to Obama was like hearing a voice speaking from my past, one of those whose words were later extinguished by the violence and rage in an America seeking to deny the truth as it was spoken.

This speech was remarkable for a modern politician in that it spoke a personal truth that was obviously given from the heart and not the pen of some professional campaign functionary or spinmeister. No one but Barack himself could have written this speech. It was a product of political necessity and given in his darkest hour, was no doubt the definitive speech of his career.

For the first time, since his convention speech in 2002, I saw the candidate not though the confused and clouded glass of his supporters, spinners, surrogates and pundits, but as the authentic person behind the slogans. For the first time I felt the meaning behind his use of words like 'hope' and 'change'. It was like getting a glimpse above the heads of a very noisy crowd of a leader who, rather than being led by advisors or opinion polls, addressed his subject honestly and analytically, with more than a little bit of soul.

As is rare with modern politicians who. like the Bushes and their ilk, would deny or ignore history, Obama surveyed the long and painful record of race in this country and acknowledged without embarrassment or apology the legacy of anger that it breeds. By courageously refusing to renounce his close relationship to Pastor Wright he acknowledged that that anger was in part justified and cannot be swept under the rug of polite hypocrisy. He proclaimed that racial tension was still a strong factor in our body politic and that the issues of race and inequality have not been adequately addressed. Finally he placed these issues in the larger context of an economic disparity that faces all working people in America, regardless of race, stating clearly that the racial divide is one of the primary obstacles to addressing the situations we have in common.

It was a bold and inspiring speech that can make one believe once again in the power of words to lure human beings toward positive attitudes and positive change. For anyone who believes that true leadership means not merely following the will of the people but challenging that will to aim toward higher goals, Obama proved himself beyond a doubt. To Obama supporters I can honestly say that, yes, I get it.

But, can Obama lead us out of the wilderness, or at least lead us toward taking a first step? In these days before the nomination his greatest obstacle may be those who wish to define his objectives in terms of their own agendas and prejudices. Already the echo chamber of the media is in full spin. Fingers are again pointed, people are accused of being ignorant, mendacious or racist. Super delegates are threatened with political retribution (as has happened in my own old congressional district in Ohio.). While the Right Wing machine portrays Obama either as unpatriotic or as a supporter of terrorists the anti-Clinton factions on the Democrat side proclaim an impending civil war.

I must confess, my view of America resembles more that of Pastor Wright than it does of the average white liberal. My faith that Americans are willing to face their own shadow in order to arrive at the truth is slight. My reservations about Obama have always been based on my view of his electability. They still are. Like a friend said the other day, I support Hillary but often root for Obama.

Today Barack Obama went a long way toward renewing my respect and acceptance. I can honestly say that I would vote for him if he wins the nomination. The process must however run its complete course, and those who frantically push the panic button, accusing their opponents of being dishonorable are not advancing Obama's cause or his chance of winning.

In order for us to grab the victory in this election we will have to be united across races, classes and generations. This is a test of our willingness to stop and think before we sling stones at each other. As the race nears the finish too many of us have succumbed to the tension and taken the bait of those who would see us divided.

I have been as guilty at times as anyone. My beliefs are backed by passion and I do not sit comfortably when they are ridiculed. It's true also that action and reaction is the style of most of mediated culture and we are addicted to narratives of conflict. I expect that this message will illicit more ridicule from some quarters, which I will ignore. In the end, the only way to fulfill our higher vision is to find a way to speak and listen to one another.