"I can no more disown (Jeremiah Wright) than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."
Is this a fitting way to repay her love and sacrifice? Or is today her turn to cringe?
Today's speech worried me and I didn't know why. It was inspirational when I heard it. I spotted the platitudes when I read it. But we already knew that Obama and his team can do great-sounding speeches that satisfy a little less each time we hear them.
Using his grandmother in this way, without any need to do so, tells us something new about him, that is disquieting.
Hat Tip: The Corner
Related link: Watch six minute section of Barack Obama's race in America speech.