Real Anger, Real Dialogue...

... and dare we say, real hope -- for healing the deep wounds of this nation's legacy of slavery and systematic racism, and decades/centuries of mutual misunderstanding?
Is that too audacious to posit?
Sure, some pundits say Obama had to say something in response to the Rev. Wright controversy, especially if he was going to (I think, admirably) choose not to just "dump" the man who had been his pastor for 20 years, and some say he had to say something big, to address what is a pretty enormous issue, not just in this campaign but in American history and American life.
But I was very impressed with what he said, and how he said it.
I'm impressed with what he had to say about his white grandmother, and his message to working-class white Americans. Maybe it was in the context of this primary, but the implications of opening up such dialogue go way beyond this election. And frankly, Obama is the right person at the right time to say these things. If the spirit of Geraldine Ferraro's comments were to say that there is a time and a place... I'll agree (I think that is being generous, but, in any case, her frustration is real, just as Rev. Wright's is, and it was decent of Obama to acknowledge that, however subtly. Whatever it may mean in the context of this campaign, it's something that needed to be said.)
Yes, Barack Obama giving a good speech is nothing new. But I think, in this one, he touched on something real, something beyond just the talking points on race, that actually broached the issue itself. To sum up by paraphrasing Faulkner, to acknowledge that the past isn't dead, or even past. Until we face up to that, we'll just be running in circles on this issue.

So is this post meant to imply that I've finally switched camps?
Not... necessarily.
I'll leave it at that, I guess, so I can enjoy my vacation.