On Mar 18, 2008, at 4:55 PM, Dwayne Monroe wrote, in the course of an excellent analysis of The Speech:
> Quickly followed, lest anyone become too uncomfortable, by more
> celebration -
>
>
> "Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded
> within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the
> ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised
> its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should
> be perfected over time."
>
> [...]
>
> The use of "perfected" above is clever; it provides the Senator with a
> very useful thematic hook, the sort of thing crafty screenwriters and
> movie directors understand. The theme, which is elegantly implied and
> subtly communicated, is that we aren't 'perfect'...yet, but we are
> indeed (perhaps unlike other peoples) 'perfectible'. This gives the
> Senator a safe way to critique the US' record: 'yes,' he says' 'bad
> things have happened. But look at our direction; it's up!'
This is right out of Bill Clinton's playbook: he once said that "what's wrong with America can be cured by what's right with America." Thus our flawed Constitution nonetheless contained the seeds of its own perfectibility. I know this shit plays very well in some circles, but it makes me want to scream.
Doug