Obama gives major speech on race

'One of the great, magnificent and moving speeches in the American political tradition' - Orlando Patterson.

'a speech whose frankness about race...could be likened only to speeches by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson. John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln' - New York Times.

'the most honest speech on race in America in my adult lifetime' - Andrew Sullivan.

That's Barack Obama's speech in Philadelphia yesterday. I thought it was a brave, thoughtful and honest speech, of a kind we're not used to hearing from politicians in the middle of a campaign, and one in which Obama seemed already to be assuming the presidential mantle as unifier of the nation.

Judge for yourself: