Will it work?

Well, damn. I managed to miss what may go down in the history of American politics as one of the top ten most important speeches ever made. Right up there with Kennedy and King. And now I have to listen to CNN play little clips and tell me which parts were worth hearing. And whether or not it it will work.

So I clicked to the New York Times and pulled up the entire text of the speech so that I could at least read it for myself. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see him deliver it - Obama is an amazing speaker. He manages to convey a genuineness and truthfulness that is inspiring. But I did at least get to read it, and I recommend you do as well. It is a moving and inspirational speech.

And I hope it works. I really do. I think it might. He did not shy away from addressing the elephant in the living room. The feelings of those historically and institutionally disenfranchised black Americans must be acknowledged in plain terms - they are in fact still suffering from the systemic discrimination that is our legacy. Don’t believe it? Just look at how easy it was to strip them of their votes in the 2000 election. Just look at what happened in New Orleans. But the tricky part for Obama is not only acknowledging that the feelings of black Americans are legitimate and deserve a voice. It is that the feelings of working class white voters must be addressed in plain terms as well; that they feel shut out of the benefits they have worked all their lives to provide for others; that they are tired of being accused of committing injustices they never personally indulged in; that they cannot speak of legitimate grievances without instantly being branded as racists and run out of town on a rail. And he did that. He acknowledged openly that those tensions and resentments cannot be swept under the carpet with a lot of pleasantries that don’t reflect the real feelings of struggling workers who are watching their jobs, homes, and futures disappear. He reached out to those people and asked them not to be afraid. He said he heard them. He said we cannot lie anymore, but we have to all be permitted to speak our truths if we are going to come together and work for our goals as one people. And he’s in a unique position to sympathize and empathize with the plight of all these people who want the whole race issue to go away. Because of who he is, he can say out loud that it won’t just "go away" and we have to be able to talk through it and come together around those same kitchen tables with love and concern for one another. God bless him. He gets it.

For the first time since Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy, I have heard a politician telling the American story and really asking everyone to cut each other a little slack and remember that we all want the same things for our children, no matter how we phrase it. He asked us to join him in keeping that conversation going.

Barack Obama said everything he needed to say, I think. But more than that, he said what we all needed him to say. That is true leadership. I still don’t know that he has the political acumen to lead the country through the economic disaster that is coming, or to end the war, or to negotiate with foreign powers without undermining the power of the Oval Office. I don’t know that he’s any different from any of the other politicians who are better at making speeches than they are at executing their policies. I don’t know that he won’t turn out to be just another corrupt politician who is really just all about what’s in it for him.

But for the first time since his campaign began, I’m willing to give him a shot at it.