Jeremiah Wright

It should have been the end of Barack Obama’s fairy-tale primary run. But when ABC News unearthed the sermons of Barack Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in March 2008, they revealed a man scathing in his criticism of the U.S., one who claimed that 9/11 showed America’s chickens “coming home to roost” and questioning the government’s dedication to equal rights. Liberals quailed. Conservatives began saying Obama himself was anti-American and anti-white. Even Hillary Clinton was thrilled, since suddenly it looked as though millions of white Obama supporters were just going to stay home on Election Day. But rather than cave to the increasingly toxic rhetoric bouncing around the cable news networks and the blogosphere, Obama gave one of the greatest speeches on race in American history. He did not defend his own character or point fingers. Instead, he reminded us that “for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts—that out of many, we are truly one.” And just like that, Obama had his supporters (and the press) eating out of his hand again. By reminding us that in America it is our differences that unite us, he pulled ahead and never fell really behind again. We normally think of race as a wedge in American politics. But in this case, race is what ultimately saved Barack Obama’s campaign.