There are two ways to react to Obama's speech today: If we admire Sen. Obama's forthrightness, and take him at his word, then the only meaningful reaction is to engage people in the honest discussion that he has tried to initiate. If we see things through a cynical, tactical point of view, then we can talk about whether his speech effectively "stemmed" the fallout of Rev. Wright, or whether confronting race is good for his campaign, or whether now he's pigeonholed as "the black candidate."
To take the second route, as the pundits inevitably will, completely misses the point and would be a self-fulfilling prophesy. By focusing on whether Obama's speech was politically shrewd, we reinforce the divisions that he has always attempted to transcend, as he did today. And we additionally ensure that the discourse continues to be about Rev. Wright.
By discussing the merits of his assessment of race in America, we make lemonade out of the ugliness that has become of this primary. We should forget about polls and delegates and strategy and strikes and money and endorsements and Florida and Michigan, and get back to the issues, and face them head-on, as Obama did.
Obama cannot single-handedly beat back the divisive forces that have inevitably surfaced in the past few weeks. As Sen. Clinton would say, its not enough to give a speech. Now we take the baton that he handed us. As many have suggested in the comments, we must combat the cynical spin that we are seeing on the mainstream news blogs by lifting the dialogue beyond political gamesmanship. I encourage everyone to take the discussion to the blogs of mainstream news outlets such cnn.com, nytimes.com, and yes, even fox.com. Its time to engage in a frank, and long overdue, discussion in this country. To be sure, such a discussion will work to Obama's political advantage by eclipsing the simple-minded headlines and smears. But much more importantly, the conversation is essential to moving beyond the racial impasse of the last 25 years, which Obama highlighted today.