A historic speech

I know you are probably troubled by the media and public attention US presidential candidate Barack Obama is getting. But this is truly an outstanding speech:



Mash reacts:

America and the world took a historic step forward tonight.

A country that was founded on the noble but unfulfilled notion that all men are created equal, a country that until the Thirteenth Amendment legally allowed men to own Black men as slaves, a country that within our lifetime has witnessed the lynching of Black men, has now put a Black man in a position to vie to lead it. It is this legacy of injustice that makes this moment historic and seismic in its impact. America is at its best when it strives to fulfill its founding promise. Tonight it took a giant step in that direction.

What brought us to this moment was Barack Obama. He stood tonight in front of 85,000 citizens at Mile High Stadium in Denver not because he was a Black man, but because he was the Democratic candidate who had garnered the most votes. Barack Obama’s improbable run at the presidency tonight shouldered the added burden of the weight of history. The moment had the potential to overshadow the man. Instead Barack Obama transcended it.

Tonight, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic speech, Barack Obama delivered an acceptance speech that seized the moment and transcended it.

Here is the text of the speech.