Too many people on the Right are dismissing the latest Obama "blast from the past" as a criticism of the courts and the weakness of their actions. Obama doesn't just point out that the Constitution is essentially a negative document, negative in that it sets forth only those things that government CANNOT do, but that these constricts make courts unable to render judgements that require government to DO. The courts simply cannot act to get things "right." Only local Community organizations like ACORN can correct things and that the end justifies the means to get everything "right."

1. The Supreme Court never considered "redistribution of wealth" or "economic justice" among the guarantees provided to citizens.

2. Even the Warren Court was not "radical" enough to do so -- to impose real change on the nation.

3. The courts have generally provided negative constraints on the government rather than positive obligations the government owes to its citizens (specifically, here, such as economic justice and redistribution of wealth).

4. Therefore, it is a "tragedy" that the civil rights movement became so courts-focused, because it limited what redress they could actually obtain -- and it took attention away from the "community organizing" efforts which could assemble "coalitions of power" (political power, that is) to actually achieve "redistributive change." Such change simply could not be had in the courts, still laboring under the "constraints" imposed by the Founding Fathers.

5. "And in some ways we still suffer from that."

Ace: A mistake the right is making is claiming he wanted the courts to assume a more radical, wealth-redistribitionist posture -- which I have no doubt at all he does believe, but he doesn't quite say that in the quote. Stop the ACLU has a detailed point by point critique of Obama's speech that you better read in case you actually still think Obama is "just a candidate." He will change the Constitution to make the redistribution of "wealth" (a term that he will define) the prime occupation of his presidency. He is a Communist. Radio interview below, and like all future dictators he tells us what he's going to do.