Summary # 11

"A More Perfect Union" is a motivational speech given by President Barak Obama before elected president. The speech includes many things one of which is the issue of race. Obama makes it clear that he doesn't want his campaign to be solely based on race. He does not want his candidacy to be seen as another "exercise of affirmative action". (363). However,race has been an ongoing issue through out the campaign. Obama say through out different points of the campaign he has been observed to be "too black" or "not black enough" and this is mostly due to his background. But he would like this candidacy to be about creating a more "perfect union". He mentions frequently his relationship with and the harsh words spoken by Reverend Wright. He responds to the attacks made on him by basically saying that all men have hidden "contradictions" and that these people make up our country. Instead of disowning these people why not confront the issue and deal with it. Obama believes "the past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even the past."(367). Things that segregate the races still occur today. Schools that a black child attend isn't as good as that of a white child. There is still a "wealth and income gap between black and white". (368). There is still racist anger in both the black and white communities. Obama believes that anger on both of these sides have proved to be "counter-productive". He also believes that we as a nation need to confront these issue as stop using them as distractions. Then we as a nation can come together and focus on the issue that we all face and make ourselves a more "perfect nation".