Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union' Full text here.

I've become a party to taking things a lot more seriously and personally than could ever be good for me to do. I believe that Barack Obama would be better for our country as President than Hillary Clinton, although I think she would do a good job as well - but I don't feel she's what we NEED, he is. I've felt this since day one, even when I've been critical of Obama - and I have been.

Reading the posts on my friends list, especially those from Hillary supporters and discussions in comment threads, I'm astonished at just how divided the liberals/Democrats have become. It's made me very defensive and guarded, and for a while there was actually causing me to become depressed. I've come to realize that for most of us who are involved, there is a lot at stake. We understand the gravity of the upcoming election and that we're living in an extremely dangerous and uncertain time. Between the occupation in Iraq (because that's what it is, goddamnit - stop calling it a fucking war, IT'S NOT, and even those key people involved know it's a sham), the economy, health care, gas prices, the environment, and the blatant abuse of civil rights, we're all scared and concerned. I myself have felt completely defeated and hopeless where our government is concerned, and not because of the obvious reasons - which quite frankly would be enough - but because I'm scared of what we have become. I've been scared of our current standing in the world because of the Bush Administration's actions. I've been scared of our principles as a nation for having twice elected people that have repeatedly gang raped the Constitution. I've been scared because the real damage, the damage that hasn't even come down the proverbial pipe yet as a result of all of these things, is going to make it all much worse before it gets any better. I've been ashamed to be an American.

I'm tired of feeling scared, I want to feel angry. Anger is much more productive for me and it fuels me to accomplish things for a greater good. Lately my anger has been directed at the wrong people and I'm trying to get beyond that, because there is no place for being self defeating anymore. I don't begrudge any of you for your own personal convictions because you cannot be wrong for stating a personal preference. I've taken personally what I've felt as pot-shots against people who favor Barack Obama from people who favor Hillary Clinton. I worked on both Clinton campaigns and believe that even with the mistakes I feel he made as President, his was the best Presidency I've experienced in my lifetime. I don't feel it does Hillary Clinton any justice to compare her too much to her husband, because for starters she's not him. Also because she's facing an entirely different world now as a potential President than her husband did, that world of then doesn't even resemble the one we are in now. She has more stacked against her in that area alone than he ever did, plus she has not only her own baggage to lug around but his as well. In many ways, he has actually done more harm than good on her campaign, which is really unfortunate to many - myself included, because I admire him tremendously. Too many people gunning for him are gunning for her by association. Which is in my estimation completely fucked up and unfair to her, and it pisses me off.

We who blog about politics do so because we believe and we are passionate, and we want to be out from under the despair and hopelessness we've felt for almost a decade now. Regardless of my own personal support of Barack Obama, I also stand with my brothers and sisters who support Hillary Clinton's candidacy and do so vocally and with a fierceness and devout conviction about it. We're unified in what is most important, and that is in bringing and end to the disastrous actions of the GOP and its minions. I know full well that Democrats are only a few slim degrees better and that they have GOT to stop being such lame fucking pussies and start fighting harder and by proxy working harder, better, and more efficiently.

All of that having been said, I'm starting to feel renewal. Once again hopeful, if only in small doses for right now. I'm really defeated you guys, really disenchanted and embittered. As always before Spring gives rebirth to everything, I go through something like this - but this year has been especially hard on me just because of the state of affairs we're living in.

At right is the video of the speech Barack Obama gave today to address the scandal of Rev. Wright's comments and his influence in the 20 years that they have known one another, but in a broader picture that applies to it all in the context of race and unification.

The Rude Pundit weighs in on the speech as well, in a way only he can.

Dear Senator Barack Obama,

Stop politicking with lies.

I like you a lot better and can take you seriously when you're not inventing bullshit for political gain.

"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that, in the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across the bridge. And so they got together, and Barack Obama Jr. was born."

"So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama," Obama said.

You DON'T have a claim on Selma and what happened there in 1965, because you were born in 1961.

Fucking stop it RIGHT NOW.

- jesus_h_biscuit

(Hat tip to rpeate for the link)

I got a fever, baby... And the only cure... is Barack Obama..

And it's not just because I really dislike HER - it is because I believe in him. Ever since his keynote speech at the DNC - I believe he understands profoundly the need for political reform. Today he officially announces his bid for the '08 presidency, and I'm going to write extensively about him later this afternoon. Don't get me wrong, I respect the hell out of John Edwards and I even liked Kucinich - but they have yet to inspire me the way Obama does.

All for now, I have to finish these 4 loads of laundry before I can blog about anything else.

Black vs. "black"
Barack Obama is black -- he just isn't "black." And if his candidacy helps take the quotation marks off race in America, it's a good thing.

( Excerpts below the cut )

Read the full opinion piece here, it's one of the best reads I've seen in a long time on racial identity, racial politics, and how we identify.

Colorblind: Barack Obama would be the great black hope in the next presidential race -- if he were actually black.

Yeah - this bitch needs to get dickslapped real, real hard. Pinktalk nails it:

How reassuring to recent African immigrants and bi-racial folks this piece in Salon today must be! They are not actually black! I hope someone explains that to the cop who racially profiles them, or the racist fuck who calls them the N-word. Awesome.

I wonder who is black enough to "count"...does that mean Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are not actually making history? Please advise, Ms. Dickerson.