When John Kennedy proposed to put a man on the moon, the Mercury program was already in place, and it was fairly clear what you had to do to accomplish the goal.

One of the criticisms of Obama has been that he offers voters a chance to catch up by voting for him. If you missed the civil rights movement or the anti-war movement, you can get your ticket punched by voting for Obama.

This speech seems to offer more of the same, and it attempts to sell the idea that only a vote for Obama can heal the racial divide. Presumably, his argument is based on the fact that his DNA derives from a black father and a white mother. Obviously, if we buy into it, he is the only candidate running this year who meets the test.

But his advertisement for himself misses the point, once again, that actions must follow words, whether that action is a civil war, the civil right struggle, civil rights legislation, or affirmative action.

It seems to me that this is the kind of speech that should include a couple of proposals from the candidate for closing the divide. Something beyond that moment in the voting booth.

Soooo close, and then you slipped into the tired old politics as usual. Why would you presume that Clinton and McCain would ignore his call?

Ahh, the audacity to have hoped that Obama supporters to practice what Obama preaches.

Oh well ...

I agree. I came to TPM to read their reaction first. It was sad to read what they took away from his speech. Are they mistaking cynicism for analysis?

He did. Back at South Carolina.

and neither do I think hillary's pastor gave any anti-american sermon!

Dear Gotalife:

No, I don't think you actually do. (Have a life).

awesome troll. wonder if there's a correlation between low-functioning trolls and Obama hating on these forums?

seems to be.

In your view of the world, is it possible to care for someone deeply enough that even though you don't agree with them completely, you still care for them and won't throw them under the bus on anyone's say-so?

Or do you think that someone -- and their friends -- has to be holier than Jesus or they're just another raging hypocrite?

Show us one, ONE, divisive thing in that speech. Show us just one place where he's exploiting fear, racism, or ignorance. Then show us how he's not trying to get us to acknowledge that race is still a major issue in this country and that we need to address it by listening across the divide and taking small steps to fix it.

He did not distance himself from his radical kook spiritual adviser. He praised him. Read his speech.

I did.

Is this what you meant?

On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Or perhaps this?

ike other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Those parts?

Go back to Fox News, troll. Your soundbite distortions of his speech are of a piece with theirs, if not coming directly from them. Live up to your handle, if you can. I'm betting you can't.

OBAMA ADMITTED THAT HE HAS BEEN LYING TO US ALL!

Yeah, but it was a terrible speech, flatly delivered, so why do you care?

Did spittle fly all over the place as you composed this?

This is such a hateful post. It could have come straight from Fox News. This is exactly what we're fighting against.

Meanwhile, JTHB Hearts McCain.

McCain's active seeking and enthusiastic acceptance of Hagee's endorsement, to JTHB, is not a problem. Just like Hillary Clinton, JTHB has no problem setting up an Insane McCain presidency, with 100 years of Iraq occupation (at $12B per month that's, hmm, 14 quadrillion dollars, to say nothing of the lives lost), a hard right 7-2 Supreme Court majority, and all the trimmings.

Typical of someone who that Obama serves an "Islamofascist constituency".

Never mind that McCain actively sought the Hagee endorsement, and said he was "honored" to receive it.

Never mind that McCain has also campaigned in Ohio with his "spiritual guide", the Rev. Rod Parsley, a wingnut if ever there was one, who claims, inter alia, that America was founded in part to "destroy Islam." Never mind that Parsley illegally drove voters to vote for the Smirking Chimp in the 2004 election. (Hmm, how come his church has never been subjected to an IRS investigation?) Never mind that Parsley's Center for Moral Clarity called for prosecuting people who commit adultery. Never mind that Parsley he compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis.

JTHB's bigotry is on prominent display here. So are JTHB's true political leanings. JTHB favors an Insane McCain presidency over an Obama presidency.

Does JTHB claim to be a Democrat?

If so, research and judge the claim for yourself.

Obama has finally admitted that he has been lying about never hearing Wright's hate speech in person.

OBAMA ADMITTED THAT HE HAS BEEN LYING TO US ALL!

Where's the lie, JTHB?

Exact words. Sourced. With links.

Obama's words. Not your spin. Not your "paraphrases." Not your distortions.

Where's the claim that you claim Obama made?

WHERE IS IT?

I think the whole thing sounded like a smooth talking George Bush

Smooth talking George Bush?!? Thanks for the laugh...

David I very much agree.

In fact this personal revealation was profound. How does a human being grapple with the idea that the person who loves you more than life itself confides an actual fear of your very being and what you are...a black man??.

That right there said how critically important it is for Obama to find the common humanity no matter the spoken nor optic differnces in people. That is his driving motivation in all situations where differences exist. He could not be at peace within himself unless he finds that common humanity. Anything else is a rejection of hisself.

Yet there are those who have said that he was rejecting his mother by attending Wright's church a place they believe she would not have felt comfortable. A premise I doubt given that his mother saw beyond differences to our core humanity as a young woman when she married a Kenyan and named her child Barack Obama. His mother believed in the ideals and dreams of America so much so that she looked beyond racial divisions in the 50s. She instilled that in Obama as well.

My heart went out to Obama when he said his grandmother confided her fear of black men to him and that she uttered racial stereotypes to him. What type of strength of character does it take to continue believing in one's self when the people who love you the most voice rejection of you on the basis of your race despite you being their very own flesh and blood?

Is that not American's history of slavery? Was not that the very thing slave owners did? Breed and enslave their own flesh and blood. They were fearful of their own flessh and blood based solely on the color of their skin.

It is his mother though who shaped Obama's world view, his grandmother embodied his racial realities and together they molded a black man who has the extraordinary leadership to inspire others to seek first our common humanity and rise about our differences to work together to solve our national problems. They launched him into the world full of his mothers hopes and deftly capable of transcending his grandmothers fears.

The only piece of America Obama was missing was the angry, despair and hope of black folks and especially black men and Wright filled those gaps.

Obama melded all this bits and pieces of America together and created a vision for himself and America. He understands all sides and is able to embrace the differences and love the richness of his and America's heirtage.

That message is what all Americans should hear and come to grips with because it is that understanding which will allow us to move forward as ONE NATION.

That is what drives Obama and informs his belief that we can as Americans move forward and solve our problems and perfect this imperfect union. Just as he knows he too is an imperfect man learning to perfect all the differnces he encounters living in America and growing up in a home suffering fear from the very person who professed to love him most.

Incredible.

America this is our moment!

As Oprah says: 'he's the one'

Are you kidding?

This was a speech that stepped beyond the immediate term, looked both forward and back, and articulated the candidate's vision for how to heal America.

How is that somehow either a) pandering, or b) serving "white guilt"?

So you'd rather have us nominate the female version of Walter Mondale? Yeah, that's going to work well in November.