"I Have a Dream" or "Checkers"?

I have read people here describing Barack Obama's speech on race as "brilliant," "magnificent," and "moving."  I agree.  But I have also seen it referred to as "brave," "daring," even "heroic," and there I have to disagree.  I disagree for a simple reason.  Obama did not give the speech, as many here have posited, "when America needed to hear it."  He did not give the speech "because it was time to talk about race."  Obama gave that speech for one reason, and one reason only - to save his campaign.  The Rev. Wright videos were damaging his campaign, perhaps, if he did not stop the bleeding, to the point where superdelegates would consider him unelectable.

Heroism, quite simply, is not doing something brave to save yourself.  It is doing something brave selflessly.  Had Obama given that same speech two months ago he would have been heroic.  He would have been Martin Luther King trumpeting "I have a dream."  But he did not.  So, no matter how eloquently he spoke, he was really Richard Nixon saying "our little girl-Tricia, the 6-year old-named it Checkers.  And ... we're gonna keep it."

In September, 1952, Senator Richard M. Nixon was on Eisenhower's ticket as the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency.  He was accused of accepting $18,000 in illegal campaign contributions.  Eisenhower was ready to drop him from the ticket.  Nixon responded with perhaps the most brilliant POLITICAL speech of the century, talking about his humble upbringing, his family, his wife, and (this was the truly brilliant part) encouraging listeners to "(w)ire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision is, I will abide by it."  In that final touch he bypassed Eisenhower and put the decision in the hand of the electorate.  

What came to be known as "The Checkers Speech" was a seminal event in American politics. It was the first time a candidate used mass media so effectively, not to tell that nation something "it was ready to hear," but to save a faltering campaign.

On August 28, 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave what many consider the greatest speech of the 20th Century.  He did not give it because he needed to for himself.    His place in history was firmly established, and he was seeking no higher office or award.  He gave it because America needed to hear it.  He gave a speech that will echo through the ages.  And in response to those echoes, nobody will ever say, "he did it for himself."

On March 18, 2008, Barack Obama gave a speech about race.  It was a speech many thought he was destined to give his whole life.  Anybody who saw him speak at the 2004 Democratic Convention knew it was one he would eventually give, the one he was born to give, and when he did it, he did it brilliantly.  But when did he give it?  Did he give it, like Martin Luther King, Jr., when the nation needed to hear it?  No, for the nation has needed to hear it from the time Rev. King stepped down from the steps of the Memorial to the moment you read this diary.  It was a speech Obama could have given the second he became the frontrunner and commanded the spotlight.

Barack Obama did not give the speech, the speech America needed to hear, the moment he could command enough attention that it be heard.  At that moment such a speech would have been a "political liability," a risk that he would be branded "the black candidate," rather than a "post-racial candidate."  The moment of heroism, the time to be brave, was when he had much to risk in giving such a speech, AND NOTHING TO GAIN FOR HIMSELF.  He did not do it then.

Barack Obama did give the speech, the speech America needed to hear, the moment the equation tipped, and he had more to lose for NOT giving it than he did for speaking.  The Rev. Wright videos were controlling the election news and raising the eyebrow of every superdelegate concerned with "electability."  

It is for this reason, the simple fact that Barack Obama's speech had the eloquence of "I Had a Dream," but was motivated like "Checkers," that I am unable to call the speech of March 18, 2008, "brave," "heroic," or anything other than a brilliant political calculation.  I know that will not be well-received by many, but before you rage in response ask yourself this very simple question - "Why did Barack Obama give this speech, NOW?"  The answer, unfortunately, indisputably, is the same as one of the two above. It was a plea to a different audience, superdelegates through the people rather than Eisenhower and the RNC through the people, but it was the very same plea:

Let them decide whether my position on the ticket will help or hurt. And I am going to ask you to help them decide. Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision is, I will abide by it.