March 18, 2008 ... "A More Perfect Union"

I try hard to avoid hyperbole. I really do. But Barack Obama has made that very difficult, so I'm just going to come out and say it: Today, March 18, 2008, Sen. Obama gave the greatest speech delivered in my lifetime.

If you haven't heard it, sit back, get comfortable, a see below.



I feel like a smarter person after those 38 minutes. To think he wrote this speech. Barack has always talked about how, as president, he wouldn't just tell America what it wants to hear; sometimes he'd tell the country what it needs to hear. For the first time, he gave us a preview of that today, discussing race in a way no has for decades. Not in sound-byte politics, but in a manner both from the heart and academically insightful. I could say a lot more, but I'm trying very hard to not sound like a fanboy. I am not. I am not a slavish Obama supporter -- I think it's stupid, for example, for Obama to criticize Clinton on her Iran vote from last year because, well, he missed the vote.

So, I don't see Barack as a fix-all or a messiah figure. But today, as I watched him give this speech -- a speech filled with nuanced, intelligent views on race, not crowd-pleasing platitudes -- I realized just how close we are to electing a man who could actually challenge us. Even if he doesn't win, this speech, I'm certain of it, will be remembered for a long, long time. For at least one day, we got a taste of an Obama presidency. And it was a good day.