From Obama's prepared speech:
Yes, we know what’s coming. We’ve seen it already. The same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn’t agree with all their ideas. The same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy in the hope that the media will play along. The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other for pure political gain – to slice and dice this country into Red States and Blue States; blue-collar and white-collar; white and black, and brown.
This is what they will do – no matter which one of us is the nominee. The question, then, is not what kind of campaign they’ll run, it’s what kind of campaign we will run. It’s what we will do to make this year different. I didn’t get into race thinking that I could avoid this kind of politics, but I am running for President because this is the time to end it.
We will end it this time not because I’m perfect – I think by now this campaign has reminded all of us of that. We will end it not by duplicating the same tactics and the same strategies as the other side, because that will just lead us down the same path of polarization and gridlock.
We will end it by telling the truth – forcefully, repeatedly, confidently – and by trusting that the American people will embrace the need for change.
Obama went on to refer to himself as an "imperfect messenger." In my opinion, this is a really sharp way of responding to the various controversies that have erupted around him in recent months.
Those stories hit Obama so hard because many had come to see him as a prince: pure and valiant and without flaws. While such an image does wonders for early enthusiasm, it's just not sustainable over the course of a rough-and-tumble election year, as Bittergate and Rezko and the Wright controversy proved.
In the wake of all that, he's been knocked off the pedestal and is now overtly acknowledging his imperfections. And I think it's a good thing. He's reminding everyone: Yes, I'm flawed, but that doesn't change the fact that we're doing something remarkable.
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