Obama And The "Quiet Riots"

Maybe it is just me, but I do not get the excitement about Illinois senator Barack Obama. I mean, maybe he is just of such an intellectual mind that I miss the point. Maybe his speeches are just, well over my head.
But, I was taken aback when yesterday, Sen. Obama referred to the "quiet riots" in the black community.
I had to wait to post this and do the research for I thought that he was referring to the 80s metal band, Quiet Riot. But, alas, he was not.
In a speech before a primarily black audience, he constantly referred to both the Los Angeles riots of 1992 in reaction to the not guilty verdicts in the Rodney King beating case and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The quote is as follows:
Those "quiet riots" that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths. They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.
Now, I do not get it? Is Sen. Obama using that as a call to arms or is it just lofty rhetoric? I mean, are all young people feeling this way? I, for one, do not think that is the case. I also do not think it is a call to arms, but it is a bizarre way of trying to explain things.
Sometimes, it is not what you say but how you mean it. That is what I would like the DDBMSM to ask Sen. Obama in the next Democrat presidential debate. I mean, the trudging out of the Los Angeles riots and the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina is not a good thing if Sen. Obama is trying to reach out beyond the Democrat base. The fact is, starting with Katrina, it was local and state govenmental incompetance. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, who unbelievably was reelected in the aftermath, and Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco were way in over their heads. No question, so was FEMA chief, Micheal "Brownie" Brown. As far as the Los Angeles riots are concerned, Rodney King was the wrong candidate to rally around. As Mr. King has shown since his original arrest, he is nothing but a punk and this is what many blacks so rallied to? I have never and never will understand why he became the poster child for blacks to rally around concerning police abuse.
I think that Sen. Obama should have used better examples rather than incompetant state and city leaders in Louisiana and a discredited punk who probably does belong in jail.
Most importantly, Sen. Obama should cool the overheated and lofty rhetoric and offer concrete solutions to the problems that not only would affect black Americans but all Americans.