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Obama's speech today on race in America

Mar 18, 2008
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It is being called the most important since Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

You can see it here, after watching a brief commercial for milk and cookies.

What is astonishing to me is that the news channels are filled with discussions about the speech, mostly focusing on how excellent it was--but they are also mostly interviewing each other, and not showing the speech itself.

If no one gets to see it, how can it be "important?"

At the same time, listening to him, it also occurs to me that Barack Obama doesn't "need" to be president. First, he is young--there will be other chances down the road. But, second, he doesn't "need" to be president to satisfy his ego. He doesn't need that any more than Al Gore did. Gore has found useful work outside of running for or holding high office. The people who "lost" in the 2000 election really are all of us, who were left with eight years of the George Bush administration as a result of our lack of discernment.

Obama has made himself useful already. He has made a big contribution to the nation already, by enunciating ideals and showing, at a minimum, a new and at least partly successful way to run a political campaign.

The person who somehow "needs" to be president is Hillary Clinton. She seems to not have any idea of anything else to do worthwhile in the world except hold for herself the White House that once belonged to her husband. Even being Senator from New York doesn't satisfy her lust for status and power.

Once again, we the people may be the losers.