If that speech doesn't get him elected AND go down in history as one of the top 5 speeches ever given, then we can lay the blame squarely at the feet of the people who have wilfully supported Clinton just because she's a woman.

My partner attended a recent county level convention in a county and state caucus that voted 64-36 for Obama. A very large majority of Clinton supporters support her because she is a woman. A very large majority support Obama because he knows what he is talking about.

As comments to this speech on HuffPo show, the pro-Clinton people cannot possibly fathom the truth in Obama's words. They don't dare look at themselves and nod in agreement. That's because they are prejudiced against Obama for the very reasons he indicated in his speech, which holds a mirror to their faces and they don't like what they see: their support of Clinton is based on prejudice alone.

If they were to really own up to the many points brilliantly articulated by Obama in that amazingly awesome speech, then they would have to admit the only reason they support Clinton is not because she is the best candidate, but because she is a woman. Supporting Clinton for these reason alone will result in failure in an election against McCain.

But that's now Clinton supporters see it. Their prejudice has blinded them, like all prejudice does. They don't want to do the work needed to come up with a rationale to support Clinton further. So they try to tear down Obama and when they do, they're really talking about themselves because the points Obama brings up are every bit unassailable as Clinton's is flimsy.

And also because Clinton herself refuses to do the inner work necessary to unite people from the ground up to offer people a compelling choice.

She's not. Because she has Mark PennRove at the helms of her campaign and he just doesn't understand that this isn't even 2007 anymore. People have woken up from their long sleep.

I think I've stated enough times here that I'm voting for Obama, but let's not get too carried away about the speech. For one thing, it should have been given several days ago. the wait was too long. Second, it was an excellent speech, but not "one of the top five speeches ever given." Please.

Do you really put this up there with FDR's "nothing to fear but fear itself", JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you", or Churchill's "blood, tears, toil, and sweat"? And those are only three that I can think of off the top of my head, with no googling.

Greater than those you mentioned. Here's why: your recall of snappy quotes are great (nice brain by the way) but they are focused on one topic. You can argue as I suspect many will do, that Obama's speech covered only the topic of race. It actually covered the entire spectrum of what it means to not only be an American, but a human being.

Obama simply demolished the divisions and arguments supporting those divisions with the most clever bit of nuero-linguistic programming: the truth. Now before you go an say that there's no such thing as the "truth", if there wasn't, we wouldn't ever have even imagine it, let alone realize that we have right under our noses to decide RIGHT NOW: we are one. We always have been. The actions of a few have profound repercussions for all, whether or not we believe this to be the case.

It's like aerodynamics: just because you can't see it, and just because you don't believe it won't stop those of us who do understand it from creating infrastructure and organization to allow each of us to soar. Those who rationalize Obama's speech or marginalize it somehow are actually choosing to not partake in creating a more perfect union.

As mentioned in the beginning of his speech, slavery was an issue the founding father's couldn't resolve. The repercussions of that are with us to this very day. And now, as then, people choose to rationalize it in a variety of ways, unwilling, afraid, or both, to face up to the fact that we are one, that indeed the good we do we do not only for ourselves, but to those around us, and not for just now, but in the future. And the bad we do through omission or commission hurts not only ourselves but now and in the future.

We either strive for a more perfect union or we just give it and cop out with some weak rationalization. It's not about race, it's about instituionalized ways of thinking about race, and most of us have our thinking informed by our religion. By and large American religion has ignored the Bible and its truisms. One doesn't need to believe in the Bible or Jesus per se, but to acknowledge that we truly are one people. Anything else is simply division, and rejection of our rightful place in our communities.

As a disabled person who hasn't always been disabled, I know what it's like on both sides of the fences. When you're normal, you fit in and nobody questions your right to belong. And when you're disabled one of the very first things that comes to mind is "this person did something wrong, or why would God being doing this to this person?" I've been viewed for many years with great suspicion physically and morally. Only those who take the time to get to know me clearly see what an asshole society demands that I be.

Obama's speech says "let's deal with that head on" to me personally, and to those who discriminate against me every day need to only honestly open their eyes and ask if this is the kind of society that they truly like? If we exclude people like me (disabled) then we had better be prepared to be excluded ourselves based on some sort of false criteria.

Obama's speech therefore ranks as one of the greatest speeches ever given, not just in America, but on this planet. He has clearly drawn the line: choose if you're going to hold a grudge real or imagined, or choose to move towards a more perfect union. It cuts across the entire spectrum of what it means to be a human being. And for me, it's the first time I've ever had someone in my corner.

My fellow disabled - I'm post lingually deaf - don't accept me because sign language isn't my first language, and languages in general don't come easily to me. Try as I have for 20+ years, I'm not a good enough signer to be accepted by the deaf community. It's their loss, and I'm okay with it. What I've never been okay with is people who continue to marginalize me, discriminate against me based on the fact that I don't hear well enough to pick up the phone, or catch everything said in a conversation.

Obama's speech - if they listen to it and take it to heart - can help some people stop seeing me as a liability that has to be accomodated and start seeing me as someone who is willing to contribute. And it can help some peple see the consequences of their action or inactions can extend beyond their lifetimes. Obama's speech is simply the most empowering speech ever given. It convicts us all, and makes us aware that the door is not closed. Walk through it for a more perfect union. Even if you still disagree with assessment of his speech I still have to choose whether to include you and your point of view or practice division.

As painful as my existence is at times, I'm more hurt that Bob has never replied to my email invitation to come stay in our house or have a late dinner with us during the DNC. ;-)

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