Obama went on to say that Wright's views were "not only wrong but divisive ... at a time when we need unity. Ch 14 North and South . Free shipping . [43] As a result, although the federal government is (as discussed above) recognized as sovereign and has supreme power over those matters within its control, the American constitutional system also recognizes the concept of "State sovereignty," where certain matters are susceptible to government regulation, but only at the State and not the federal level. "[53] After Wright made a series of appearances in March 2008 and Obama changed his initial decision to not renounce Wright, Krauthammer derided "the speech [that] was not just believed [but] was hailed, celebrated, canonized as the greatest pronouncement on race in America since Lincoln at Cooper Union" as a "shameful, brilliantly executed, 5,000-word intellectual fraud." Ch 10 The Jefferson Era. Wright controversy behind him. The Preamble was placed in the Constitution during the last days of the Constitutional Convention by the Committee on Style, which wrote its final draft, with Gouverneur Morris leading the effort. Who else could alchemize a nuanced 40-minute speech on race into must-see YouTube viewing for 20-year-olds? Huckabee argued that Obama "handled this about as well as anybody could" and suggested that it was "a very historic speech." The courts have shown interest in any clues they can find in the Preamble regarding the Constitution's meaning. among the several states . He mentioned that he achieved primary victories in "states with some of the whitest populations in the country"[2] and in South Carolina, where he won with the support of white and black voters. Transit Auth. [15] After reading Obama's final draft, Axelrod sent him an email saying "This is why you should be president. [57] These same principles apply to corporate entities,[58] and can implicate the doctrine of exhaustion of remedies. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country—a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old—is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.[2]. 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. [57] A Newsweek summary of Obama's campaign called the speech a "tour de force, the sort of speech that only Barack Obama could give", but added that "a close reading of the speech suggests more than a hint of personal grandiosity."[58]. 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. It was not defensive. [29] Although the Constitution expressly delegates to the federal government only some of the usual powers of sovereign governments (such as the powers to declare war and make treaties), all such powers inherently belong to the federal government as the country's representative in the international community. [21] "[T]he concerted effort for renewal and expansion of hospital and medical care centers, as a part of our nation's system of hospitals, is as a public service and use within the highest meaning of such terms. "[2] On the other hand, Americans could come together to solve the nation's problems, in particular the problems of education, health care, jobs moving overseas, the Iraq War, and caring for veterans. [48], In a moment of rare straight-faced sincerity, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show finished his otherwise-typical satirical coverage of the speech by calmly stating: "And so, at 11 o'clock AM on a Tuesday, a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race as though they were adults. [50] It has also been construed to mean something like "all under the sovereign jurisdiction and authority of the United States. [25] Although the government argued that the scope of the Commerce Clause included this transaction, it also argued that the Preamble's statement that the Constitution was created to "promote the general Welfare" should be understood to permit Congress to regulate transactions such as the one in this case, particularly in the face of an obvious national emergency like the Great Depression. The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words We the People, is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. It did not overcompensate. [7][8] Wright had said, among other things, "God damn America" for its racism and "for killing innocent people. While he decried the remarks made by Wright, Huckabee, a former pastor himself, also noted that "sermons ... are rarely written word-for-word" and that pastors often get "caught up in the emotion of the moment." "[45], Ben Smith at Politico compared the speech to Mitt Romney's earlier campaign address regarding his religion: "A smart colleague notes that this speech is the polar opposite of this year's other big speech on faith, in which Mitt Romney went to Texas to talk about Mormonism, but made just one reference to his Mormon faith. [2], The Preamble serves solely as an introduction, and does not assign powers to the federal government,[3] nor does it provide specific limitations on government action. When the Framers of the Constitution set out in 1787 to form a more perfect union, the indispensable element in their undertaking was the creation of the Presidency. Jeremiah Wright? Lot 4 J A Jance J P Beaumont Lying in Wait/A More Perfect Union/Trial by Fury+. Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said that it "was a serious speech about the incendiary topic of race in America." [73] By March 27, the speech had been viewed nearly 3.4 million times. The initial wording of the preamble did not refer to the people of the United States, rather, it referred to people of the various states, which was the norm. "[30], Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain also offered a warm reaction to the speech during an interview with Chris Matthews on April 15 at Villanova University, describing it as an "excellent speech" and "an important statement that he had to make at the time", and saying that "it was good for all of America to have heard it. 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." The speech achieved immediate popularity on the video sharing web site YouTube, garnering 1.2 million views in the first 24 hours after the speech and 2.5 million views within the first few days.[22][23]. A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and the Future of … "[6] She called the speech "incredibly honest and personal" and argued that Obama "changed the terms of the debate." Ch 1. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. Ch 13 Manifest Destiny. But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. "[29], Prominent Republican politicians reacted to the speech as well. [61] For example, creditors who lose some measure of what they are owed when a bankrupt's debts are discharged cannot claim injury, because Congress' power to enact bankruptcy laws is also in the Constitution and inherent in it is the ability to declare certain debts valueless. The Congress passed the statute in order to cope with the Great Depression, and one of its provisions purported to give to the President authority to fix "the prices at which new cars may be sold". Additionally, when interpreting a legal document, courts are usually interested in understanding the document as its authors did and their motivations for creating it;[10] as a result, the courts have cited the Preamble for evidence of the history, intent and meaning of the Constitution as it was understood by the Founders. Courts have referred to it as reliable evidence of the Founding Fathers' intentions regarding the Constitution's meaning and what they hoped the Constitution would achieve. [68], 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." A More Perfect Union: America Becomes A Nation is the first comprehensive recreation of those stirring, heated debates during the sweltering summer of 1787. It showed the process it took to write the Constitution of the United States. Prior to its independence, the United States was still a union of states, but "in order to form a more perfect union," the … "[25] The day after the endorsement, Richardson elaborated on his rationale for supporting Obama, saying that the speech "kind of clinched it for me. $12.99. [t]o regulate commerce . Between 1774 and 1789, 13 colonies became a nation - the United States of America. [36] The federal government exercises its supreme power not as a unitary entity, but instead via the three coordinate branches of the government (legislative, executive, and judicial),[37] each of which has its own prescribed powers and limitations under the Constitution. [5], Beyond the content of the speech, some media coverage focused on the manner in which it spread through the Internet. Substantively, the case was about whether the transaction in question constituted "interstate commerce" that Congress could regulate pursuant to the Commerce Clause. "[50] In contrast, liberal columnist Frank Rich said that he shared "the general view that Mr. Obama's speech is the most remarkable utterance on the subject by a public figure in modern memory. Stephanie Cutter, John Kerry's spokesperson in the 2004 presidential campaign, suggested that "no other person in this country, black or white, could have given a speech like that. 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