I just got confirmation on something extraordinary:

Obama wrote his speech on race by himself -- without speechwriters, showing it only to a few of the closest members of his campaign team.

DailyKos.com pointed out why this is significant: Other than the speeches Obama has written for himself, the last time a major speech was written without the aid of a speechwriter by a president or presidential candidate was Nixon’s "Great Silent Majority" speech delivered on October 13, 1969.

In other words, this is the first time in my lifetime -- PLUS TEN YEARS -- that a president or presidential candidate has given a major speech from his heart, without running it through the myriad filters and focus groups that seem to strangle any hope of getting an original thought out of these people. And he did it over the objections of many on his team.

That speaks volumes all by itself.