Anyone see Obama's speech? If you didn't, it was one hell of a speech. He said exactly what I thought he needed to say and I was impressed with the message of getting up off your *** to help yourself and not be a victim of the injustices of the past. I may not agree with him on everything, or even many things, but that basic principle is big and it is strong and this speech may have gone a long way to sealing the deal for him.

I am continually amazed at Obama's grace under pressure. Sure, the general hasn't started yet and he hasn't had direct fire, mano e mano, from the Republicans, but to say that there isn't a huge fight on his hands from the Clinton Machine would be ignorant.

Thoughts?

I only caught the first few minutes of the speech before I had to leave for work, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, but I'm surprised to see that the liberals/Democrats on the abcnews.com board aren't terribly impressed. Obama's supporters liked it, of course, but they can't really point to what it was they liked, and the Clinton supporters aren't buyin' a word of it.

Dunno. I don't think a candidate can afford to have a frank discussion about race and still retain enough voters to make a majority - the more he says, the more people will have to hold against him. I'm still surprised that people got so worked up over it. This is not atypical rhetoric for black churches. I, as a Republican, don't care about associations. I don't like the idea of character assassination by association.

Obama does NOT hold Wright's beliefs - no one could seriously believe that. Obama has not presented himself as a "black man" - he's presented himself as an earnest, intelligent candidate who wants to rise above dirty politics.

The latest polls (pre speach) show an Obama/McCain race as 47% Obama, and 46% McCain (error margin 3%) Clinton 49% to McCain 46% (error margin 3%)

Those are very close races. Interesting to see if Obama's speech will bolster his numbers, or Hillarie's.

What impresses me is that she has thrown all kinds of nasty stuff at him and has basically remained above it. You are right though, it is some fascinating stuff.

I think he's the best of the 3 on the podium, but I can't get around his policies.

What sucks is that I don't like a lot of McCain's policies and I can't stand Hillary. Where the hell does that leave me?

^ I'm in the same boat....

I agree. Without saying anything too offending, and I wont go into details.... I think Obama would be the target of several assassination attemps, Hilary would not get any respect from other countries, and Im democrat so I don't wanna vote for McCain.

I didn't get to see or hear the speech. I will say that I find Obama the most charismatic of the three candidates and as a person I think he is good. I do not agree with many of political policies and beliefs though. I think Hilary is a liar and not a good person. She uses whatever means suit the moment best to get to acquire her goals. McCain, well, I agree with many of his political policies, but not all. I too worry about assassination attempts on Obama if he wins, and the consequences that would bring to the nation if a white person were to assassinate him, Hilary will ruin our nation in too many ways (economically, more than Obama, militarily, in foreign and domestic policies, etc.) and quite frankly, McCain stands a very real chance of dying of old age before his term is up. Average male life expectancy in the US is 77, he'll be 72 in August. I don't know who to vote for, McCain bc i agree with more of his policies, or Obama, bc I think he is the best person at heart among the group. Hilary will never get my vote.