The Amen Chorus.

Do you remember then-Senator Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia, during the 2008 campaign? The one that was designed to "defuse" the whole Reverend Wright issue? (I never really understood why the issue needed to be "defused" since it seemed obvious that the Obamas were not church-goers and therefore were never in the pews to hear Reverend Wright's jeremiads).

Nevertheless, then-Senator Obama's speech on race was widely hailed as the greatest speech since the beginning of time. I read it and thought: what am I missing?. What I was missing was the campaign (by the press) to make sure everyone thought it was a great speech and to make sure everyone understood that Rev. Wright was a non-issue.