Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his "God Damn America" had, and still has, the potential to crush Barack Obama's historic candidacy. The dire situation is apparent to everyone, and it was the desire to stem the controversy that inspired Obama to give a speech on race and politics today. I wondered how he was going to do it. Because I know — and you know — the way black people, especially older black people, talk about white people and America in the company of other blacks. It's something that white people, particularly those who don't know many blacks, either don't understand or don't want to understand. And, because Barack Obama has made the decision to condemn Wright's opinions but not the actual man, it was something that Obama had to explain. I think he was successful. The speech was honest and as real as it could have been, given that we're talking politics here. I certainly have never heard a politician speak about race in such a real, meaningful way. Not in a blind "can't-we-all-just-get-along" way, but in a way that really inspires people to think hard about where hate and resentment comes from and to at least start trying to move past it.

Wright was the inspiration, but in the speech he transcended that one issue. By using Trinity Church and Wright as symbols of a black community that he loves dearly but disagrees with, he attempted to show that he could separate the opinions from the person and that people like Wright feel the way they do for a good reason.

Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright.

He painted Wright as a product of his upbringing — the intense racism and inequality that he experienced growing up informed his anger and bitterness. But, Obama said, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Obama also spoke of white resentment of blacks — of social programs and affirmative action — and said that this resentment can't be dismissed or "wished away." But he also criticized conservative commentators who make a living out of "unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism."

But here's the quote that I think is one of the most important of the speech, particularly at a time when people are called race-baiters if they so much as mention a racial inequality and accusing someone of calling you a racist is more incendiary than accusing someone of being a racist:

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.

Clearly, I thought the speech was effective. I thought the speech worked. But I'm not the target — I'm an Obama supporter who, although I recognize the problem of Rev. Wright, does not think that Obama's relationship with him means that they share the same views. Will it work to stop the controversy? Will the people who he was trying to reach get it? We'll see.

Read the full text of his speech here.