"This week, Barack Obama gave one of the most important speeches about race many of us have ever heard. And, whatever you think of his candidacy, on the merits, this speech was anything but soaring, empty rhetoric. In the way of all truly important political addresses, it reached beyond comforting blah-blah (America É patriotism É change) and challenged us with truths we'd rather not contemplate. Instead of claiming to be a victim of race politics in America, Obama asked the victims on both sidesÑwhite and blackÑto acknowledge that there are victims on both sides."

This essay in Slate goes on to pose the question of what Hillary might say if she were to give a parallel speech on gender -- and why she never will.