I just read this powerful post on The Daily Kos, about a man getting his car fixed at a Jeep dealership in a conservative Altanta suburban area, when Obama’s speech on race in America comes on TV. His fellow customers are riveted, and their responses are a powerful testament to the ability of Obama’s words to reach across political lines and draw people in from disparate worlds. The message also confirmed my own experience with conservative Republican friends who’ve told me, “You’re not going to believe this. I know Obama’s way too liberal for me, but I respect his integrity and think I’m going to vote for him in November.”  

From the Kos Diary of Socratic, “>Watching Obama With Strangers: 

…Now, I’m not going to talk about the speech itself. Plenty of folks have done that. I’ll just say that I was watching intently, pleased with what I was hearing. When, after about 5 minutes, the guy who was working on my car came by to tell me that the car wouldn’t be ready until the afternoon, I thanked him and stayed right where I was to watch the rest of the speech. But something curious happened. I was snapped out of the moment of the speech by the mechanic’s visit, which was fine because Obama was, in a very real sense, giving the speech about race in America that I’ve wanted to hear my entire life: genuine, personal, intelligent, and direct. I’ve watched the speech again since this morning, and it didn’t disappoint, but just at that moment I stopped watching it … Continue