I did not hear the speech, but I have the transcript. As a public speaker I was deeply impressed with the rhetoric...it was a great speech, and if the words do indeed reveal the soul of the man then I am impressed with Obama.

However true that may be, I do not think that the speech totally undid all the damage. The fact is that Obama sat and listened to this man for 20 years. If a white politician sat and listened to the grand wizard (lizard?) of the KKK for twenty years it wouldn't matter how eloquently or frequently he denounced the racism of the KKK. I have heard the "sermons" of the pastor in question and beyond any shadow of a doubt they are among some of the most violent, racist and divisive comments I have ever heard. To explain them away as a part of the African-American heritage is to fall into the same gutter logic as the gangsta-rappers talking about capping cops and banging their ho's. That language is wrong in a white supremicist setting and it is wrong in a predominately black church. Obama cannot explain away why he listened to such hate speech for 20 years without challenging the speaker.

Like I said, the speech was dynamite. My initial reaction was, "Clinton is toast now." But those words, "God d**n America" will ring loud and clear until November. I don't think Obama answered the question most whites want to know, and that is, "what exactly is the difference between you listening to black racism for 20 years without challenging it, and me listening to white racism. Racism is racism."

He cleaned the table with that first speech. But he needs to reset the table and cue it up again.

Freightdawg