A More Perfect Union

Events prior to the speech

Then-Senator Barack Obama, the son of a white American mother and black Kenyan father, launched a campaign in January 2007 to be the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nominee. His election marked the first election of an African-American president in American history.

In March 2008, ABC News released a story examining the sermons of Obama's longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in which Wright denounced the United States and accused the government of crimes against people of color. Wright had said, among other things, "God damn America" for its racism and "for killing innocent people." Obama had begun distancing himself from Wright when he called his pastor the night before the February 2007 announcement of Obama's presidential candidacy to withdraw his request that Wright deliver an invocation at the event. However, Wright did attend the announcement, prayed with Obama beforehand, and was named to the Obama campaign's African American Religious Leadership Committee. When several videos of Wright's Christmas sermon appeared on YouTube in the first week of March 2008, Obama responded by going further than he had before, "vehemently disagree[ing with] and strongly condemn[ing] ... inflammatory and appalling remarks Wright made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents." On March 14, the campaign announced that "Rev. Wright is no longer serving on the African American Religious Leadership Committee."

Feeling that he had failed to sufficiently address and explain the context of his relationship with the pastor, Obama began writing the speech that became "A More Perfect Union". Obama's usual speechwriting practice during the 2008 campaign was to discuss major themes with speechwriter Jon Favreau, let Favreau write a draft, and then edit the result. However, on Saturday, March 15, Obama dictated a lengthy draft of this speech to Favreau, who edited the speech the next day. Obama stayed up until 3:00 am Sunday night working on the speech, and continued to work on it Monday and in the early hours of Tuesday. He sent his final draft of the speech to Favreau and campaign strategist David Axelrod. After reading Obama's final draft, Axelrod sent him an email saying "This is why you should be president."

Obama later said that as he wrote the speech, he tried to ensure that his mother, Ann Dunham, would have trusted its sentiments.

Speech

Obama's speech began by quoting the preamble to the United States Constitution: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union ...". Noting his proximity to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Obama highlighted the tension between the ideals of equal citizenship and freedom expressed in the Constitution and America's history of slavery, and connected the American Civil War and civil rights movement with the goals of his own campaign, "to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America."

Obama described his own family history—stating that "in no other country on Earth is my story even possible"—and connected both his multicultural background and his campaign with the American motto, "out of many, we are one". He mentioned that he achieved primary victories in "states with some of the whitest populations in the country" and in South Carolina, where he won with the support of white and black voters.

Obama then addressed the comments of Jeremiah Wright:

... we've heard my former pastor ... use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely—just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country—a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America ...

Response

Reaction to Obama's speech was swift and widespread in the United States. Politicians, news media, members of the political punditry, academics, and other groups and individuals quickly weighed in on its significance and effectiveness. In the days following the speech, commentators debated (among other questions) its possible importance to American history, the extent to which Obama did or did not succeed in pushing questions about his association with Jeremiah Wright to the side, and the overall effect the speech would have on Obama's campaign and the contest with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

The speech achieved immediate popularity on YouTube, garnering 1.2 million views in the first 24 hours after the speech and 2.5 million views within the first few days.

Politicians

The response to the speech from Democratic politicians and activists was largely positive. Some characterized the speech as "honest", while others speculated about its possible significance for race relations in the United States.

Obama's only remaining opponent in the race for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, as well as past Democratic presidential candidates, offered thoughts on the speech soon after it was given. Clinton said that she had not seen or read the speech, but that she was glad he had given it:

Issues of race and gender in America have been complicated throughout our history, and they are complicated in this primary campaign ... There have been detours and pitfalls along the way, but we should remember that this is a historic moment for the Democratic Party and for our country. We will be nominating the first African-American or woman for the presidency of the United States, and that is something that all Americans can and should celebrate.

When asked a week later about the controversy about Obama's pastor that prompted, and was addressed by, Obama's speech, Clinton answered, "He would not have been my pastor. You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend ... hate speech [is] unacceptable in any setting ... I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving."

Senator, former 2008 candidate and future President Joe Biden called Obama's speech powerful, truthful, and "one of most important speeches we've heard in a long time." Biden believed that Obama's speech would "come to represent an important step forward in race relations in our country."

The speech played at least a partial role in the decision of New Mexico governor Bill Richardson (who was, like Biden, a former 2008 candidate, and one whose support was heavily courted by both Clinton and Obama given that he was the country's only Latino governor) to endorse Obama for president, on March 21 in Portland, Oregon. According to The New York Times, Richardson had decided to endorse Obama a week earlier (prior to the speech), but "his decision was bolstered by Mr. Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia." After the speech, Richardson sent word to Obama that he had found it inspiring and impressive. While endorsing Obama in Portland, Richardson said that "Senator Barack Obama addressed the issue of race with the eloquence and sincerity and decency and optimism we have come to expect of him ... He did not seek to evade tough issues or to soothe us with comforting half-truths. Rather, he inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility." The day after the endorsement, Richardson elaborated on his rationale for supporting Obama, saying that the speech "kind of clinched it for me."

News media and pundits

An editorial in The New York Times praised the remarks, saying, "Senator Barack Obama, who has not faced such tests of character this year, faced one on Tuesday. It is hard to imagine how he could have handled it better."

Chris Matthews of MSNBC referred to the speech as "what many of us think is one of the great speeches in American history, and we watch a lot of them." Independent Women's Forum CEO and MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard said it was "the best speech and most important speech on race that we have heard as a nation since Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech."

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek said that "Barack Obama didn't simply touch the touchiest subject in America, he grabbed it and turned it over and examined it from several different angles and made it personal. Just steps from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, he rang the bell hard and well."

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan called the speech "strong, thoughtful and important", and noted that its rhetorical style subverted the soundbite-driven coverage of contemporary news media.

Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris of Politico said that "[t]he Philadelphia speech offered lines calculated to reassure all the groups with which he is most vulnerable." However, they noted that "Obama's cross-racial and even cross-partisan support has been driven by a belief that he is a new-era politician, not defined by the grievances and ideological habits of an earlier generation ... Then came Wright." The authors quote Southern academic Merle Black as saying: "The new information, especially about his minister and his twenty-year association with this church, really undermines the message he's been delivering for the last year, it completely undercuts it."

Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, wrote at National Review Online (NRO) that "As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant—rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols." Also at NRO, Peter Wehner, former deputy assistant to the president and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote:

Academics

Political scientists and other academics also offered initial evaluations of the speech. While generally agreeing that the speech was quite significant, there was debate about what effect it would have on the campaign.

Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said that it "was a serious speech about the incendiary topic of race in America." Sabato noted that a debate about race was "inevitable" in the campaign and that "from Obama's perspective, it's much better to have this discussion now", rather than shortly before the November election (assuming he captured the Democratic nomination).

Congressional scholar and Brookings Institution senior fellow Thomas Mann argued that Obama gave "an extraordinary speech—not because of any rhetorical flourishes, but because it was honest, frank, measured in tone, inclusive and hopeful." Obama "appeared wise beyond his years and genuinely presidential", but Mann felt it was unclear "whether it will be sufficient to stem a racial backlash against his candidacy."

Donald F. Kettl of the University of Pennsylvania called the speech "stirring" and noted that, "rather than put race behind him, [Obama] put it more at the center of the campaign." However, Kettl questioned "whether the message will resonate with white working class Pennsylvanians" (Pennsylvania being the next state to vote in the Democratic primaries) and argued that Obama needed to "couple his portrait of race to the broader challenge of economic opportunity" in order to connect with white voters.

Some political science professors questioned whether Obama's speech would have the effect he hoped for in terms of distancing himself from the controversial comments made by Wright and allaying the concerns of a number of white voters. The political scientist and former North Carolina Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Michael Munger called the speech "brave", but said that Obama was "being naive". Munger argued that "[a] black candidate named Barack Hussein Obama can't have questions about his patriotism, and commitment to America, not if he is going to beat a genuine war hero" (a reference to John McCain and the general election). He argued that Obama "had to distance himself far from Wright. Instead, he was brave." Susan B. Hansen of the University of Pittsburgh noted that "the dilemma for Obama is that the more he talks about race being unimportant or transcended, the more important it will become to the media and voters' perceptions." She suggested Obama did not put the Wright issue to rest and that, if Obama became the nominee, Wright's comments would no doubt play a role in the general election as fodder for Republican attacks against him. Similarly, Eric Plutzer of Penn State argued that Obama's speech "did not put the Rev. Wright controversy behind him. Those skeptical of Obama are likely to continue to distribute video clips, and quotes of Obama's own words, to argue that his reaction was not sufficiently strong ..."

Other responses

The New York Times reported that, within days of the speech, some religious groups and institutions of higher learning were "especially enthusiastic" about Obama's call for a racial dialogue. According to the Times, "Universities were moving to incorporate the issues Mr. Obama raised into classroom discussions and course work, and churches were trying to find ways to do the same in sermons and Bible studies." Troy Benton, lead pastor at a church outside Atlanta, said that he did not "see how you can be an African-American preacher and not try to figure out how to have something to say this Sunday (March 23, 2008), even though it's Easter." James A. Forbes was to preach the Trinity United Church of Christ Easter service which Wright had preached in the past, telling the Times: "It is nighttime in America, and I want to bring a word of encouragement."

Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, said that she hoped that Obama's speech would help people "talk more openly and honestly about the tensions, both overt and as an undercurrent, that exist around race and racial politics."

Others applauded Obama's call for a national dialogue on race, but hoped that words would be translated into action. Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun and a founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, argued that "this has got to be more than a speech because these things don't just happen spontaneously ... There needs to be some systematic, organizational commitment to making this happen, with churches, synagogues and mosques working out a plan for continued dialogue."

Later in the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama cited his crafting of this speech as an example of a "gut decision". Speaking to journalist Joe Klein in October 2008, Obama said that he decided to make his response to Wright's comments "big as opposed to make it small", and added:

My gut was telling me that this was a teachable moment and that if I tried to do the usual political damage control instead of talking to the American people like ... they were adults and could understand the complexities of race, I would be not only doing damage to the campaign but missing an important opportunity for leadership.

Effect on voters

One of the crucial questions after Obama's speech was what effect (if any) the speech would have on voters in terms of their overall opinion of Obama and their willingness to vote for him in the remaining Democratic primaries and in the general election. Critical to these questions was the extent to which voters identified Obama with the views of Jeremiah Wright.

A Fox News poll taken immediately after Obama's speech on the evenings of March 18 and March 19 found that 57 percent of respondents did not believe that Obama shared the views of Wright while 24 percent believed he did share Wright's views. 36 percent of Republicans, 20 percent of independents, and 17 percent of Democrats believed that Obama shared Wright's views. The poll also found that 35 percent of voters (including 25 percent of Democrats and 27 percent of independents) had doubts about Obama because of his relationship with Wright. The racial division was especially noteworthy, with 40 percent of whites expressing doubts in comparison to only 2 percent of African Americans.

A CBS News poll taken two nights after the speech showed that 69 percent of registered voters who heard about or read about the speech felt that Obama "did a good job addressing race relations." Seventy-one percent felt that Obama had effectively explained his relationship with the controversial pastor. An equal numbers of voters (14 percent) saw themselves as more likely to vote for Obama after the speech as saw themselves less likely to vote for him. 70 percent of voters felt that recent events had made no difference. These numbers are markedly different from the pre-speech numbers. The numbers were less positive for Obama when respondents were asked whether he would unite the country; only 52 percent said he would, a drop of fifteen percentage points from a poll taken the previous month.

A poll taken by the Pew Research Center between March 19 and March 22 showed that, although 35 percent of likely voters said that their opinion of Obama had grown less favorable because of the Wright affair, it had not had a significant effect on the support for his candidacy; he maintained a 49 percent to 39 percent lead over Hillary Clinton among likely Democratic voters. The survey showed that 51 percent of the public had heard "a lot" about Wright's controversial sermons, and 54 percent heard "a lot" about Obama's speech. Of those who heard "a lot" about the speech, 51 percent felt that he had handled the situation well, as did 66 percent of Democrats (84 percent of Obama supporters and 43 percent of Clinton supporters).

Role in changing media landscape

Beyond the content of the speech, some media coverage focused on the manner in which it spread through the Internet. Video of the speech "went viral", reaching over 1.3 million views on YouTube within a day of the speech's delivery. By March 27, the speech had been viewed nearly 3.4 million times. In the days after the speech, links to the video and to transcripts of the speech were the most popular items posted on Facebook. The New York Times observed that the transcript of the speech was e-mailed more frequently than their news story on the speech, and suggested that this might be indicative of a new pattern in how young people receive news, avoiding conventional media filters. Maureen Dowd further referenced the phenomenon on March 30, writing in her column that Obama "can ensorcell when he has to, and he has viral appeal. Who else could alchemize a nuanced 40-minute speech on race into must-see YouTube viewing for 20-year-olds?" By May 30, the speech had been viewed on YouTube over 4.5 million times. The Los Angeles Times cited the prominence of the speech and the music video "Yes We Can" as examples of the Obama campaign's success in spreading its message online, in contrast with the campaign of Republican (then) presumptive nominee John McCain.