Obama on Race in America

Deborah White got it exactly right:

Religious Tests in 2008: Only for Blacks & Mormons?

She says a lot. And so did Barack Obama. I rather doubt that many views were changed because so many minds are already made up.

But I'm impressed that he didn't throw his pastor under the bus. Really impressed.

What she said....

In his landmark speech today, Sen. Obama displayed a steely courage of his possibly unpopular convictions, unvarnished honesty, and an apolitical transparency unseen in the White House for decades. His remarks today are strongly reminiscent, in tone, of his equally courageous 2002 speech against the Iraq War.

I would have felt differently had he repudiated his personal friendship with his pastor of two decades, which would have been the most politically advantageous path. Which would be the path most hardened politicos would take.

But Sen. Obama didn't choose the path of political opportunism. Instead, in his wise judgment, he did the right thing. Again.

Today, I'm more convinced than ever before that Barack Obama is the right candidate at the exactly the right divisive time to be President of the United States.

But I'm left wondering when these bigoted religious litmus tests will end.