Obama's Speech

I listened to Senator Obama's entire speech this morning. He is a skillful orator, but he lost me early when he compared Geraldine Ferraro's brief comments to Reverend Wright's many tirades. That comparison so jarred me, that I never could fully commit to believing what he was saying. Just when I was starting to feel that he was sincere, he injected his grandmother. Again, the comments he compared from his grandmother were mild indeed compared to Reverend Wrights' outpouring of hate. That he could equate the two, made me question his judgment.

Far from reassuring me, the speech reinforced an early impression that Senator Obama has issues with older women in positions of authority. In an interview at the beginning of the campaign, I listened as he condescendingly spoke of Hillary's mood swings. I have heard that tone and words used to keep women in their "place" too many times. At that moment, he lost my support.

I admire Senator Obama for not deserting his friend and mentor. Senator Obama delineated the problems of race in this country brilliantly. He did not reassure me as to his own racial views because he did not provide any instances when he confronted Reverend Wright on his extreme views or examples of times when he publicly distanced himself from those views before this campaign. I suspect this is so because such instances never occurred.

On the whole, I think Senator Obama took an unfair hit on his pastor. I do not think he has yet defused that issue. I fear if he is the Democratic Party's candidate that this will hurt his chance to be President.