Obama?s speech moved beyond mere politics

On Tuesday in Philadelphia, Barack Obama delivered the most articulate and profound speech on race in America since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "I have a dream," in 1963.

It's too early to tell whether the speech will defuse the political firestorm that gave rise to it – the incendiary, anti-American remarks made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's friend and spiritual adviser. No doubt Wright's comments will continue to be amplified and distorted by talk radio demagogues, by commentators and politicians, black and white, who have built entire careers exploiting and stoking the fires of racial division.

Obama condemned Wright's words in unequivocal terms, calling them "not only wrong but divisive" and "racially charged." But he refused to abandon Wright, the man who he said "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."

http://www.sacbee.com/editorials/story/796021.html