Obama’s Grace
At The Atlantic, James Fallows writes on President Obama’s eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney and the fallen parishioners of Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, calling the speech Obama’s “most successful performance as an orator.” Fallows analyzes stylistic elements and themes of the speech, exploring their significance for the pursuit of racial justice. He writes, “President Obama spoke for about 40 minutes, touching on the personal, political, and religious, and melding sermon with eulogy and, movingly, song. The theme of the speech was grace, but the president also talked about racism, poverty, gun control, the legacies of black American churches, and Confederate iconography.”