That's what we were all saying he has to do.
for it to go well

And there will be a choir of media elites and pundits who will decry it as too little too late and continue to bash him into the ground.

Just a hunch.

What's gotta be pretty gauling, if you're a Hillary supporter, is that this Obama speech is going to get 100 times the amount of coverage that her "I can be the Commander in Chief" speech that she gave today. (Today, otherwise known as the Bear-Stearns meltdown day.)

This is awesome. The more he speaks, the better. He has nothing to hide and a lot of insight to share.

I am excited to hear what he has to say and delighted that he is using this opportunity (no matter the ugliness with which it arose...) to talk about a complex issue.

Very presidential. He reminds me of the calm, wise parent, taking bickering children by the hands without judgment and sitting them down for a teachable moment.

Hopefully it talks about how these types of issues are distracting folks from Iraq and the economy. You know the larger, more relevant issues. One can hope.

Perhaps Obama should also consider referencing another important figure who, despite a reputation for pithy conciseness of speech, is considerably more wordy than Wright in expressing what cannot be anything but the same basic sentiment:

"...Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'..."

Need a clue as to the speaker? It's on the right hand wall as you enter the western-most building on the National Mall.

the hysterics over Wright only make sense in the context of a absurdly sensationalist media and a desperately undereducated populace. the man said nothing reasonably controversial or even out of place.

Racists who support Hillary (her base) will be up in arms about this development. How dare he talk about race! He's playing the race card! Yada yada yada.

Whats interesting is that Clinton can't pre-buttal or otherwise stick her nose into this issue. She's gonna have to sit this one out on the sidelines and watch.

It is indeed a sorry state of the oldest democracy that a honorable man has to defend his faith in public along with a MSM to spin it anyway that suits them just because of his race. If BHO loses this year, it not his loss but the country's. An once-in-a-generation chance and how the people are eager to kick it in its teeth. You know what they say, "Opportunity knocks the door gently, but temptation kicks the door open".

Anybody else get the feeling that this is gonna be one of those "Where were you when you heard" moments?

Race is the boil on America's butt. I hope Obama's speech helps to lance it and get everyone talking constructively. Probably not when the media and the Republicans manage to twist it all around, but maybe he can speak to enough people to shut up the worst elements of the Clinton campaign and Faux News.

Obama: Judgment you can trust.

There you have it. Straight from the horse's....mouth. One half, give or take, of the Democratic party, that is to say Hillary's base, is racist.

And to give the Clinton camp some props, I've been impressed that they've decided to stay away from this and not jump on the bandwagon. Granted with all the right press pushing it they didn't need to, but I'm still happy to see Clinton supporters not pushing it as well.

Actually, she and they, if they care anything about racial justice and fairness, need to should show up at the speech and stand and cheer as well.

Next speech after this: Something FDR-esque on the economy. We're watching the beginning of a surreal Wall Street meltdown with what looks like a nationalization of these imploding firms and the dollar that will be monopoly money in a few months. Kind of makes issues like the pastor seem even more trivial than they did last week. Ultimately, race and Obama's 'differentness' among the masses will be less of an issue in November when the economy is in the shitter. He needs to convince people he knows what to do, whether he does or not.

I think BO will need to specifically mention Hagee and Pat Robertson in his speech and just be honest that, "look, just because people I know have said something, doesn't mean I believe it."

He should then reference that to McCain, and Ferraro to HRC. He can clear this entire issue for both sides by saying...."lets talk about the real issues, not he said/she said."

That's my take.

I wish he could say that unless all Southern Baptists leave their church at once, they are opening themselves up to being called de facto racists.

He should mention that unless Catholics reject the Holy Roman Church this instant, we can all assume that they agree with the molestation of children by priests and nuns for the past several centuries.

He could say that Othodox Jews are required to exit temple any time the rabbi says anything since the whole Orthodox liturgy consists in thanking G-d they are not Gentile, slaves or women.

When the piggy little Kristol is forced to answer for his rabbi being "unashamedly pro-Israel" the way Obama is being questioned for a church tenet that proclaims ties to Africa, then the general public, in which this subject has turned for days, will understand how black Americans hear this criticism.

Margaret Carlson, a true fool if ever one existed, squealed that Obama should have gotten up and left his church in the face of these statements; in her conclusion, she tells me instantly that she doesn't go to any church. How dare that idiot Fred-head direct anyone in their spiritual journey!

Let's just say that I definitely learned one thing from this Wright controversy. When a black man is critical of America, it's unpatriotic but when a white man is critical of America, he's a hero.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/obamas-minister-committe_b_91774.html
Ah, double standards. Where would we be without them?

Yzerman:

He should then reference that to McCain, and Ferraro to HRC. He can clear this entire issue for both sides by saying...."lets talk about the real issues, not he said/she said."

It will go much deeper than that.

You are talking about a guy who has the heart of a poet and the intellect of a professor. Someone who grew up with a foot in two cultural worlds. He knows first hand white fear of the black male. He remembers how he had to drive his white grandma to work because of an episode at a bus stop with a black man that frightened her the previous day. He knows why he felt compelled to visit his father's home in Kenya. He knows about skin bleaching. He knows and he feels.

No... I expect he will go deep with this one.
Mere tit-for-tat is not to be expected.

I've got my own predictions where he will go... but, I will hold them close and let the man speak for himself.

And now its about time for a new alert regarding the Rezko trial....

Waiting for the other shoes to fall....

Video from Obama's camp on Hillary's Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7DVHh1h3-0&eurl=http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

Just keep digging...maybe you can get your new pastor to accompany you tomorrow when you give this enlightening speech on your church and race in this campaign.

Billy Glad:

Sure I have. And I would defend Malcolm, Jesse and Obama, too. And I have. Problem is, I'm not running for President, and I only have one vote. I want the SC, end the occupation, health insurance, and someone to straighten out the complete mess Bush has made by politicizing every federal agency and staffing them with schedule C morons. I want to win this election. If I have to throw Obama and Wright under the bus, so be it.

I hate to sound like the pessimist, but this is not a good situation at all and I really don't know what he can do about it. The 20-30% who don't see a problem, won't see a problem. It's the other potential voters above that 30% that will be a huge problem. It doesn't look good or sound good.

I am really not looking forward to mccain as president. This totally sucks.

>>>>And then Michelle Obama gives a speech where she makes the mistake of letting their true feelings leak out: "For the first time in my life, I'm proud to be an American".....

Could people PLEASE put that one to rest!!?? It was perfectly clear (at least to those of us who are older) what she was saying when she said it - her clarification confirmed that meaning. She was talking about the power of people, ordinary people in large numbers, mobilizing, taking an active part, and shaping the direction their country was going to go in
She was saying that she'd never seen anything like it, and she hadn't! Those of us who had seen it before knew precisely what she was talking about. ---- With the exception of small, scattered and largely ineffective mini-movements, the "citizen power" that those of us older saw as a force of its own through the war years, in re-establishing peacetime security, at the heart of the civil rights movement, women's rights, and opposition to Vietnam ... THAT has been missing (was killed off, I guess you'd say) since 1968. Michelle Obama was 4 years old at the time.

With the election of Nixon, government became paternalistic and 'the people' became largely silent and powerless. Just hoping for a good leader to come along and 'do things' that made life better. This year, for the first time since Michelle was 4 years old, ordinary people in the millions and stepping up, not just waiting around to be told who the candidates are going to be, what new direction will be followed. -- Do you think the powers-that-be wanted John McCain to get the Republican nomination? Or wanted Obama to be such a serious contender. No. In both cases, it was the people who wanted something other than what the 'bosses' wanted -- and the people have been calling the shots.

So fight all you want about Wright and race and anything else, but PLEASE stop throwing in this perfect valid and understandable comment as "proof" of something evil and dire. What we are seeing is damned impressive and it's a central and necessary part to a healthy, working democracy. The picture, to those her age, had been incomplete before now. To suddenly see democracy working -- not just a word that is tossed about? Yeah, that brings about a very new kind of pride. Those of us who saw it before are feeling that particular pride and feeling of empowerment *again* for the first time in a long, long time. Let it go.

Since everybody has been dumping on the Clinton campaign for its supposed incompetence, how about thinking about the incompetence of the Obama campaign, which has apparently known fully the nature of the problem presented by Wright since at least the day the campaign commenced, yet seems to have been caught completely unprepared for the revelations of the last week or so?

"Since everybody has been dumping on the Clinton campaign for its supposed incompetence, "

Actually the MSM has been dumping on OBama for a good three weeks now.

My guess is that Obama knew this would be necessary and had such a speech sketched out long ago.

I'm so glad we'll hear from Obama tomorrow on this issue. As always - I'm sure he will be fair, honest, and show the judgment, elegance and class that has made a country fall in love with him - for lack of a better phrase.

I cannot wait for Obama to be my President. He easily remains the best of our choices for the nation's highest office.

Don't miss the great post over at HuffPo:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-kurashige/obamas-crisis-and-mlks-_b_91807.html

"This is exactly why our country is based on separation of church and state."

I disagree. This is Obama as a private person consulting with someone for spiritual reasons. He's not inviting him into policy realm. So I dont' see any chruch-state line crossing.

Obama thinks that silver tongue of his will rescue him? I think that tongue of his has turned to scrap metal. This is only re-bamboozlization. Unfortunately, he knows there's a lot of suckers out there. It might work on them.

Well people,

We might as well get used to a third republican term with John McCain at the helm.

Dick Morris, Nancy Pelosie, and many other pundits, keep telling us through the news media who are happy to report it, that if the super delegates do the job they were actually put in place to do, that the black community and the young people, who love this racist believing man, we know as Obama, will hold it over the Democratic party for the next 20 years and that it will "tear the party apart."

So what I suppose this means, is the super delegates who were put in place to avoid having another losing candidate like McGovern, and those of us with the good sense to see the wisdom of giving Hillary the nomination, will just have to sacrifice the election, give the black guy - the losing guy - the nomination to save everyone's feelings and let him go ahead and lose the election to McCain. We must just shut up and sacrifice and face another 4 years of republican rule.

How much does that suck?

Oh well, I guess it could be worse. Sen. Allan, could have been the nominee if he had not gotten caught saying racists things.

Rae

"Scorching?" Caliente!

McCain/Clinton '08!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now he is going to explain to us what we don't
know, and thinks we should know and totaly accept,
as to how the mind works in black church.

I don't think the mind is working in a black church, when a supposedly, highly educated pastor can get away with this kind of stuff, unless they are fooling us about how Trinty has the largest number of higher educated members of any church in the country.

In the video, the congregation appeared ready to go out and burn down the barn. Is he going to tell us that in black churchs, the main function is to rable rouse, and that we should understand.

When people criticize Obama, there is no there there. They really have to pick some pretty lame reasons to oppose him. None of which is based on merits. You think he is too good to be true? Well, every once in a great while, we get a real statesman, like Kennedy, Lincoln. They just ARE better than all the rest. Please listen to his entire speech with an open mind. He is the real thing.

Nepat cracks me up! I'd like to make a contribution to to McCain/Clinton '08. Can you provide the contact information for the lobbying firm I need to send it to? I'm afraid I don't have a Swiss Bank account or a presidential library, do they except offshore accounts?

All those angry looking black people is what finally put me over the top. SCARY! At first I thought Obama was all, you know, Tiger Woods-like. Quiet, inoffensive, dresses well, well spoken, clean. Now I find out he hangs out with no good rabble rousers and expects me to understand. He's got some splainin' to do. Highly edumacated, my ass.

Seriously, Obama is going to need a good speech, given the level fear and ignorance that pervades the electorate. He'll need to assuage the irrational fear and somehow overcome the guilt by association that the MSM and Repubs have been whipping up. It's gonna be tough, but I think he's got it in him.

Nah nah nah nah
Barack Obama
Hey hey hey
GOODBYE!

>>>>Don't you think it a bit strange that since he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents, that his first "hit" novel was all about "Dreams from my father", whom he never knew,as opposed to maybe "my mother was the greast influence on my life"

No I don't think it's strange at all, nor do you if you think about it. When you are secure in a relationship, know that you love and are loved, where is the struggle? where is the book? Actually, he said in the forward to the reissue that if he had had any idea that his mother (who died at 53) would not be in his life for decades yet, he would have focused on the parent who was there for him and, in the long run, was far more important in his life. But living with his mother and grandparents wasn't his challenge: being a fatherless black boy in a white family was.

Obama's challenge was learning how to be black, so of course that was the focus of his 'coming of age' account. Children don't grow up thinking they are different, especially different from their own families. It's how OTHER people treat you that tells you you are something different and that the difference matters. In fact, his grandfather encouraged a friendship between a young Barack and a black man the grandfather's age so that there would be someone who could tell him something about that part 'from the inside.' But beyond things like that, his family couldn't prepare him for what it was like to be black, because they weren't.

And - of course - our society doesn't allow anyong to be bi-racial. It isn't a separate designation where you can find peers: if you have dark skin you are black - period. You know that. So if you are going to be perceived as black all the rest of your life, you might as well learn what that means. -- It's a fascinating challenge and seen through his mind, aided by his eloquence, it's a fascinating story. I suggest you read the books; I gave the first one to my son simply as a story of growing up that I wanted him to see and think about.

So, to all of you who are exulting in this potentially-fatal roadblock, that's fine and enjoy the fact that 'your side' (whatever that may be) may win, but there's no need or purpose to 'demonize' Obama or blind yourself to the real value that is there. I strongly, strongly oppose Hillary Clinton's candidacy; I don't want her to win because I don't respect or trust her ethics and honesty. But does that mean I have to blind myself to her very real strength, tenacity, intelligence and commitment? Of course not, and I do respect those qualities.

So, just because the challenge Obama faced is something most of us would never face and can't truly imagine doesn't mean he doesn't deserve credit for facing it. Somehow he dealt with it, explored all parts of being black (which includes understanding the anger many blacks, especially older ones legitimately feel) and coming out the person he is today: the NON-angry person that he is. I wonder how any of us would have dealt with a similar challenge? And it's how you play the cards you were dealt that matters, not whether it was a good hand or poor one or you wind up 'the winner.'

It sounds like a bad pun in the context but things are rarely 'black and white'. Wright's statements are horrific and I couldn't defend or respect that kind of hateful anger, in a Wright or a Limbaugh, even when I can somewhat understand it (which I can with Wright but not with Limbaugh). However, that isn't all there is to Wright -- read the sermon that we know Obama listened to and heeded:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/for-the-record.html#more
(If Limbaugh has produced anything as substantive and NON-angry, someone will have to point me to it because I've never heard of anything.)

Personally, I like the idea of a leader who has had to learn and fashion who he is, because there was no pattern or model to follow. I think it results in a strong, clear-thinking individual. But whether you support him or not, it's okay to give Obama respect for taking the good parts that are there in someone like Wright, but rejecting the anger, and also for not totally turning his back on someone who has been important in his life. It's too easy to build up straw people and knock them down ("Obama hates us whites because he wrote about his black father and not his white mother.") If you are going to oppose someone, at least if you are goign to successfully or persuasively oppose them, you should be willing to look at the real person, not some easily-dismissed inhuman thing of your imagination's creation.

Obama will probably announce he is leaving his racist church, it will be to little to late.