Reaction to Obama's Speech

Surprise! Liberals loved it and right-wing hacks hated it. Here's Adam McKay's thoughtful and humorous response:

Barack Obama spoke like an enlightened leader from 2008 instead of like the fake cowboy from 1885 that most politicians evoke or like a pharmaceutical salesman talking about change, but "not that much change" at a team building exercise in Tahoe. In other words, he didn't pass the buck to save his own ass. It was a monumental moment in modern American politics. He didn't distract, deflect, or attempt to frighten. He didn't accuse, declare war, or get angry. He didn't game play, scape goat, or blame. Can you imagine? We need to engrave this shit onto a commemorative coin fast.

And here's an example from the right:

Let’s call it another good con job from the substanceless Obamessiah and simply accept that he’ll never answer why his closest advisor aside from his wife hates white people with a blinding fury nor why that’s completely cool with him.

(TBogg has more gems, if you can stomach them. I'm going to guess that the majority of these white men did not watch the entire speech and chose instead to watch the "highlights" on Fox News.)

One of the best reactions came courtesy of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show who correctly noted that Barack Obama actually spoke to us as if we were adults:



And Jon and Larry Wilmore hilariously demonstrated how much work we still have to do in order to heal the racial divide:



As I was walking my dogs last night, I did have one fear while reflecting on Obama's speech (and no, it was not the kind of fear Obama's white grandmother has admitted to having): What if Obama is too smart to be elected president? The response on the right convinces me that my fear may not be unfounded.