This is the one of the few articles I’ve read that actually describes a black crowd’s overwhelmingly positive response to a speech by Barack Obama. I’m sure that somewhere out there, there’s another story, maybe on Fox News, about the senator’s “lukewarm reception” at the NAACP convention. It’s all subjective, isn’t it? Anyway, his speech yesterday during which he described himself as a product of NAACP’s work and promised a Democrat victory in 2008, was a hit, according to the Boston Globe. The other candidates were there to put in their two-cents, although they probably felt like they were playing second fiddle.

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, whose turn was next, said wryly, “I want to thank the NAACP for allowing me to follow Barack Obama here.”

As the forum went on, the candidates traded thoughts on school integration, gun violence, voting rights, job outsourcing, and health care. Each candidate, in his or her own way, also claimed ownership of the civil rights mantle and promised to continue the struggles for equal rights.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York said she wanted to be part of the “long march” toward true racial equality, advocating expanded parental responsibility in education and rebuilding the American manufacturing base. Former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who is basing his campaign on an anti-poverty platform, dwelled on that heavily in pushing his plan for universal health care and calling for a redeployment of the money being spent on the Iraq war.

And what did the Republican candidates have to say? Oh yeah, they didn’t show. Rudy Guiliani was even in Detroit doing fundraising and couldn’t even stop by. At least they aren’t pretending to care when they don’t.

[BG]