WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's race speech didn't adequately answer the key question of his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but his comments were revelatory in important ways.
What Obama highlighted, if indirectly, is the dormant disconnect between much of black and white America. And what he revealed, if accidentally, is that he has contributed to that disconnect as a passive participant.
We need to talk, Obama says. So let's talk.
What has become clear in the several days since Obama's speech in Philadelphia is that blacks and whites see things differently -- in some cases, as different as black and white.
To the average white American, especially one who doesn't subscribe to the fire-and-brimstone school of religious expression, Wright is an unfamiliar character. He may be a Christian but his orientation is African and he speaks the language of white conspiracy.
