Watch Obama in Selma: Hillary's not getting the black vote.

I'm surprised this has not been put in a diary yet.

Today Obama and Hillary went to Selma, AL to commemorate the anniversary of the Selma march.  Watch this and then, with a straight face, say that Hillary is going to get any significant portion of the black vote in the Democratic primaries.

YouTube has it here.

Obama masterfully makes the connection between himself and African Americans.  Giving lie to the MSM manufactured story that somehow Obama is not "black enough".  

...your father was from Africa, your mother, she's a white woman from Kansas. I'm not sure that you have the same experience.

And I tried to explain, you don't understand. You see, my Grandfather was a cook to the British in Kenya. Grew up in a small village and all his life, that's all he was -- a cook and a house boy. And that's what they called him, even when he was 60 years old. They called him a house boy. They wouldn't call him by his last name.

Read the entire speech here.

Obama masterfully strikes down the idea (and lie) that he is not "black enough":

And I tried to explain, you don't understand. You see, my Grandfather was a cook to the British in Kenya. Grew up in a small village and all his life, that's all he was -- a cook and a house boy. And that's what they called him, even when he was 60 years old. They called him a house boy. They wouldn't call him by his last name.

Sound familiar?

He had to carry a passbook around because Africans in their own land, in their own country, at that time, because it was a British colony, could not move about freely. They could only go where they were told to go. They could only work where they were told to work.

Yet something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “Ripples of hope all around the world.  Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. When men who had PhD's decided that's enough and we're going to stand up for our dignity.

That sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.

In the kicker, he makes the connection between the discrimination his parent's faced and his being where he is today:

This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Alabama.

He also, after a quite effective allegory on Moses (John Lewis' generation) and Joshua (the generation after) laid out the most succinct plan on lifting up all Americans, including minorities, anyone has produced in a long while:

The first is to recognize our history. John Lewis talked about why we're here today. But I worry sometimes -- we've got black history month, we come down and march every year, once a year. We occasionally celebrate the various events of the Civil Rights Movement, we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, but it strikes me that understanding our history and knowing what it means, is an everyday activity.

Second thing that the Joshua generation needs to understand is that the principles of equality that were set fort and were battled for have to be fought each and every day. It is not a one-time thing.

Third thing -- we've got to recognize that we fought for civil rights, but we've still got a lot of economic rights that have to be dealt with. We've got 46 million people uninsured in this country despite spending more money on health care than any nation on earth. It makes no sense.

He then talks about the "empathy gap" in our current leadership- which eloquently describes how we all feel about where Bush has taken our politics.

Some analysis:

Watching this speech and the reaction of the crowd I come to a few conclusions:

1. Barack Obama is as giften an orator as FDR, Kennedy, Reagan or Clinton.  

2. Judging the reaction of the crowd, I cannot imagine in the end Hillary getting more than 20% of the black vote, if that.  If that is the case, is the blogosphere + the black vote enough to elect a nominee?  

3. Any doubts that Obama is not the most progressive of the big 5 Dems running (Hillary, Edwards, Clark and Richardson) will be erased by viewing this speech.

4. He is masterful, however, at not appearing radical or progressive.

5. If Obama is the nominee, its likely the black community will work and turn out like we have never seen before-- which has strong implications on election day downticket.