A More Perfect Union

"A More Perfect Union"

Craig Jackson

English 1200

Dr. Foster

February 18, 2014

Abstract

President Obama's speech, A More Perfect Union, was very moving. Although it revealed the improvements needed in our nation, it also revealed some weaknesses in our unity. Issues of racism and social inequality were highlighted in this speech. Furthermore, these issues were made clear by the President's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. This caused a lot of controversy, in which the President shared his views from an opposing position to Reverend Wright's claims. Yes, we have a long way to go as a nation, but we have progressed from where we used to be.

Reading President Barack Obama's, A More Perfect Union Speech can really make one realize that words actually do have energy, because many things have changed since this speech was addressed to the public. One major thing that has changed is that when Barack Obama made this speech he was a senator, now he is serving his second term as President of the United States. Even though the pace hasn't been as rapid as those would like it to be, it is believed that America is on its way to forming a more perfect union. As any union, the United States is flawed, and striving for perfection is impossible. However, there is always room for improvement. That is what President Obama may have implied in his speech given on March 18, 2008.

President Obama gave a very knowledgeable and noble speech in regards to the topics of "black anger" and "white resentment" based on the history of our country. Those are two subjects in which President Obama can go into great detail about, being that he has experienced the effects of both subjects as a child and even today as a man born to an African father and a white mother. The speech also revolves around President Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jerimiah Wright and the release of his past taped sermons in which he made remarks deemed as "offensive" by the media. One of his sermons accused the United States of causing the September 11th attacks on themselves because of the violence the U.S. created in other countries. Reverend Wright's speech also received a lot of criticism and negative attention from the media because it made mentions of the government seeing all white men as equal and not other societies of civilization in the same manner.

In President Obama's speech, he seems visibly torn with Reverend Wright's views, however, he delivers the speech as one sided. President Obama gave reference to his disagreements with some of Reverend Wright's sermons, one reference being when the President stated, "the profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It is that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress had been made..." (paragraph 37). Nevertheless, the President goes on to reason with a lot of Reverend Wright's sermons saying, "This is the reality on which Reverend Wright and other African Americans of his generation grew up," (paragraph 26) referring to the segregation and the lack of economic opportunity in the black community. It is clear that President Obama holds a special place in his heart for Reverend Wright when he reflects on his past with the Reverend baptizing his daughters and marrying him and his wife. However, the speech slyly jumps around from cycle to cycle of the same topic in which his views never change about the Reverend. He never comes to a solid conclusion regarding the reverend because it seems as if he is torn between his astonishment of the Reverend's past sermons and the memories he built with a man who led him to a Christian faith. Or, could it be that he recognizes that people and officials believe he has a great chance of winning the election? How does he take on the role as "leader of the free world" when the Reverend suggest that America has played the role of terrorists? How does a person stand by a man who has counseled him for over twenty years without selling out? Or does that person choose to sell out? It is the role of Commander and Chief after all.

Though President Obama comments on The Reverend Jeremiah Wright's sermon didn't reach a solid conclusion, it can be agreed that he did hit the nail on the head in regards to the issues on race in the United States. President Obama addressed