This is going to be a short diary, but I hope people do take note. The non-stop news is beginning to analyze Obama's speech this morning. They're still talking about the politics of it, but are starting to go deeper, to the core points, examining if what he said were true about black and white racism.
Of course, the blogs are all over it. Not just the blogs like this, but the MSM's quasi-blogs, and celeb pundits at Huffington Post. Again, there is a real examination past the politics, to what he actually said. That's not just from the left, either. Even the right-wing blogs are pushing back - but it's not based on the politics, it's actually a push back on the core of what he said. Hey, it's a start.
In short, at least in the first 4 hours after the speech, it's stoking a real honest discussion of race, with some very healthy back and forth on TV and the web. It might even be stoking debate inside people's own heads, as they consider their own personal role in the racial divide, or its reconciliation. And from debate and discussion, come a will for solutions.
And so, a derivative benefit of today's speech is to prove that, well, speeches matter. Let there be no more question.