Analysis: Obama targets race

Analysis: Obama targets race

Obama condemned the remarks made by his former pastor but defended his ministry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Race doesn’t matter,” the crowd chanted after Sen. Barack Obama’s sweeping victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, made possible by heavy black support and a solid showing among white voters.

But in the seven weeks since, race has mattered more and more in his presidential struggle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, threatening to dent his lead. On Tuesday, Obama addressed it head-on in a speech that bluntly described a history of injustice to blacks, acknowledged the resentments of whites, and ended with the hope that his campaign can help heal racial divisions.

Some whites may feel he did not do enough to distance himself from a fiery Chicago preacher who has depicted the United States as a racist society. The speech also could unleash wider discussions of race in the campaign rather than reduce its role as a “distraction” from more important issues, a term Obama used several times.

But a recent series of unsettling events convinced the Illinois senator that a full-bore address was needed, and now. They include a trend of white Democrats voting more heavily for Clinton while blacks vote overwhelmingly for him; the resignation of a major Clinton supporter who made racially contentious remarks; and, above all, intense media focus on the most inflammatory statements of Obama’s longtime minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Just six days ago, Obama suggested that overt discussions of race were a frustration and unwelcome diversion in his campaign. “We keep on thinking we’ve dispelled this,” he said, speaking of the notion that he relies too heavily on black support.

On Tuesday in Philadelphia, however, he said discussions of race have “taken a particularly divisive turn” recently, and it was time for a bold and frank airing.

Obama, the son of a white mother and black father, then addressed both racial communities in turn. He urged blacks to embrace “the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.”

“It means taking full responsibility for own lives,” he said, “by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children.”

He called on whites to stop denying the prevalence and continuing harm of racism. He said whites should acknowledge “that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people.” The legacy of discrimination, he said, “and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past, are real and must be addressed,” in part by building better schools and other facilities in black neighborhoods.

At the same time, Obama said whites are partly justified in fearing that good jobs or college slots, which they qualify for, might go to blacks under programs giving minorities “an advantage.”

Perhaps the trickiest part of Obama’s 37-minute speech dealt with Wright, his longtime friend and recently retired pastor. Wright has said, among other things, “God damn America” for its racism and “for killing innocent people.”

Obama sharply condemned such remarks Tuesday. But he defended Wright’s overall ministry and tried to put it in context for uncomprehending whites.

Rarely has a black politician directed such remarks to a national audience. They come as one of Obama’s key assets — his image as a biracial candidate who can bridge cultural differences and largely transcend race — threatens to become a liability. Comments from Clinton supporters and others have fueled discussions of race lately, and some white voters in Ohio and elsewhere seem to be turning against Obama partly because of his race, according to exit polls.