Obama Takes on Race in America, Begins New Offensive against Clinton-Republican Alliance

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Barack Obama's "speech on race" today went much further than simply addressing the Jeremiah Wright question. It was a sweeping and inspiring statement on unity that re-asserts the spirit of the Obama campaign as we saw it in Iowa and South Carolina. Obama's speech was intelligent, fair, comprehensive, and should put to rest any suspicions at least among rational people that Wright's comments in any way reflect Obama's opinions or the aims of his campaign. The Clinton campaign and its new-found Republican allies on talk radio and in the editorial pages will be hard-pressed now to come up with any further excuse to push the Jeremiah Wright story as something we should all be thinking and talking about. I have no doubt, however, that they will try.

Meanwhile, indications are strong that the Obama campaign is indeed launching a new offensive for the nomination as predicted earlier this week by the Chicago Tribune. The Obama campaign has issued a renewed call for full disclosure of Clinton tax returns, earmark requests, and presidential library documents (see CNN), as well as new statements critical of Clinton's "anything to win" tactics (see Politico). This a necessary step given the negative tactics employed recently both by the Clinton campaign and by Republicans anxious, for their own foul purposes, to see Clinton rather than Obama receive the Democratic nomination. Republicans have jumped with particular glee on the Jeremiah Wright issue, seeing it as an opportunity to sabotage not only Obama but also Democratic hopes for the general election. Republicans would like to use race as an issue to divide the Democrats, and Clinton is only too happy to play along for the sake of short-term political gain.

This is no time for Obama supporters to sit quietly and watch while an unwholesome alliance of Clintonites and Republicans attempts to destroy the best opportunity for meaningful change we have seen in America for forty years. Obama remains the frontrunner in this contest for the Democratic nomination, and it may take a hard fight to make sure that it stays that way. Even for Obama supporters far from Pennsylvania and other upcoming primary states, there is no shortage of opportunities for action: long-distance phonebanking through the Obama website, online media activism, and letters to the editor are only a few of the ways in which we can fight the lies and claim the nomination.