Reactions to Race Speech, McCain's madcap mixups of Al Queda, Sunni and Shia

It's been a very busy coupla days, so here's just a few highlights. I have to say, some of the personal stories about people's reactions to Obama's speech yesterday have been amazing. I hope you enjoy.

On the Race Speech

By now, I'm sure most of you have read or watched Obama's speech on race in America, but if you haven't yet had the chance, you can watch it and read it here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords/

In the blogs I read, there have been a number of interesting, and moving, commentaries

• Mainstream Editorials
• Blog and Journal reactions
• Author, with multiracial family, on the reaction of his white mother
• On Watching Obama with Strangers
• On Obama's Fearlessness, crossing the "Swiftboat Threshold"
• On reading the reaction of the right wing
  

The Iraq Speech
In all the hoopla, you may not have read or heard about Obama's speech today on Iraq. He went after McCain:

"Just yesterday, we heard Sen. McCain confuse Sunni and Shiite, Iran and Al Qaeda. Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no Al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America's enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades."

And then Clinton and McCain:

"Senator Clinton says that she and Senator McCain have passed a "Commander in Chief test" - not because of the judgments they've made, but because of the years they've spent in Washington. She made a similar argument when she said her vote for war was based on her experience at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. But here is the stark reality: there is a security gap in this country - a gap between the rhetoric of those who claim to be tough on national security, and the reality of growing insecurity caused by their decisions. A gap between Washington experience, and the wisdom of Washington's judgments. A gap between the rhetoric of those who tout their support for our troops, and the overburdened state of our military.

"It is time to have a debate with John McCain about the future of our national security. And the way to win that debate is not to compete with John McCain over who has more experience in Washington, because that's a contest that he'll win. The way to win a debate with John McCain is not to talk, and act, and vote like him on national security, because then we all lose. The way to win that debate and to keep America safe is to offer a clear contrast, and that's what I will do when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party - because since before this war in Iraq began, I have made different judgments, I have a different vision, and I will offer a clean break from the failed policies and politics of the past. Nowhere is that break more badly needed than in Iraq."

The McCain "Gaffe"
Someone today astutely commented that if you make the same mistake three times in two days, even after being corrected at the microphone in front of the press, that it isn't a "gaffe" but a talking point. McCain has repeatedly stated that Iran is training Al Queda, and has mixed up Sunni and Shia, to boot.

Hillary's Records
The New York Times has taken the first crack at the newly released daily schedules from Hillary's tenure as First Lady, and states that the records do not support her claims to experience in critical areas, and that more than 4,400 pages are redacted.

"The documents offer no support for her claims, made during the presidential campaign, that she helped to negotiate the Irish peace accords or facilitated the flow of refugees in the Balkans. Neither is there evidence in them to back up her claim that she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, the first legislation Mr. Clinton signed as president. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, sailed through Congress and landed on Mr. Clinton's desk 10 days after he was inaugurated. Indeed, on the day Mr. Clinton signed the bill into law, Feb. 5, 1993, there is no indication on that day's calendar that she attended."