In it, Obama was talking about the effect that the Supreme Court decisions had on civil rights. That most sacred civil right that we all hold dear... the redistribution of wealth:
You know, if you look at the victories and failures of the civil-rights movement, and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples. So that I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at a lunch counter and order and as long as I could pay for it, I’d be okay, but the Supreme Court never entered into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.
Read the entire thing.
Or even better, go here where the people from WBEZ have conveniently left MP3s, so that you could hear it all in its context. This should be a direct link to the MP3. A little more, just to give you an idea what Obama was talking about...
You know, I’m not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts. The institution just isn’t structured that way. [snip] You start getting into all sorts of separation of powers issues, you know, in terms of the court monitoring or engaging in a process that essentially is administrative and takes a lot of time. You know, the court is just not very good at it, and politically, it’s just very hard to legitimize opinions from the court in that regard.
So I think that, although you can craft theoretical justifications for it, legally, you know, I think any three of us sitting here could come up with a rationale for bringing about economic change through the courts.
There are a lot of things that I think that the average, everyday person doesn't understand about Obama. I hope this, along with his membership in the New Party, might give them a clue. Like Obama regretting that he couldn't bring along redistribution of wealth through the courts.
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