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Following Barack Obama's speech yesterday the media has been dissecting every syllable and nuance. Reactions have been mixed and the right is now trying to portray Obama as "the black candidate" who just wants to blame whitey. That's why it comes as no surprise that right wing tool, Joe Scarborough, can't stop talking about Obama and Reverend Wright and has now picked up the Free Republic line on the speech -- how dare he say ANYTHING bad about his grandmother!

"I really wonder why anybody, why any man would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech, regardless of the point he was trying to make."

Now that Tucker no longer has his own show, Joe has taken on the role of wingnut concern troll and on this morning's Morning Joe, he was in rare form. He kept saying over and over how Obama's speech was one of the greatest speeches on race ever, then can't shut up about how white folk in Ohio and Pennsylvania will never buy into it. It's true, some people weren't impressed with the speech, but Joe constantly yammers on about how Obama supporters are all latte-sipping yuppies from midtown Manhattan and Georgetown, which is patently false.

Will Bunch asks if we're ready for Obama's post-racial politics v.2.0. Given Scarborough's remarks, I'm not so sure. Pam Spaulding hopes so:

People who know me well are quite aware that I'm not one prone to great waves of emotion; I'm Ms. Even Keel to most. The emotion was because there I sat, reading elements of wisdom about our desperate need for engagement on the topic of race that I have written about on this blog for years. At times I have almost pleaded with readers to feel safe to open up to discuss the difficult issues of difference -- putting up posts with a dearth of comments because few were willing to put themselves out there.

Sometimes I feel like a tiny, insignificant voice attempting to bridge a Grand Canyon-sized divide. I can't imagine what it felt like for Barack Obama to write and deliver this speech, knowing the audience that would be receiving the message.

Because of that, in Obama's speech I was reading the words of a man that gets it, regardless of the fact that he is a candidate for President of the United States of America that resonate with me on this issue. That he is this close to becoming president of this country -- and to risk it all by cracking open this door on a painful area of this country -- is something I thought I would never see. He is giving voice to a healthier view on race relations that needs to be embraced from a stage where it's hard to argue that it is not an issue worth tackling.