Politics

Why is Obama Giving a Race Speech?

By Matt Cooper

Why is Barack Obama giving a major speech on race tomorrow? I confess I don't get it. The financial markets just went through a helluva 72 hours. Anybody who owns any stock has been jumpy and it just seems like an odd time to step back and get all highbrow on us.

I don't mean to diminish the importance of race. Obviously, it's the American tragedy, the great wound in our culture, richly deserving of discussion and policy proposals. But why this week?

The timing feels odd and besides, it seems to me, a large part of the Obama appeal is that he doesn't give speeches on race. His hopeful campaign and his own transcendent experience seems like lecture enough. I'll listen carefully tomorrow but I'm really skeptical he's going to say anything that new and I'm very surprised at the timing. The lesson of Ohio for the Obama campaign, it would seem to me, is to get that economic message away from Clinton, rebuild the ties to white, working-class voters and close. That would seem especially true after the last 24 hours of market turmoil.

I note, as I do always, that my spouse works for Clinton.

Full post as published by Portfolio.com: Capital on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).