"I thought it was an outstanding speech, an honest speech from his heart.
"If describing developments in American political life candidly is dismissed as a form of partisanship," he warns, "then honest speech becomes impossible".
In the next ten minutes, Mr Obama delivered an impassioned and honest speech on gun reform; fuelled by seven years of being unable to make any changes to stop incidents like Oregon, Charleston and Newtown.
Regardless of the skeptics, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic called the speech a "searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching, loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian speech" and "the most honest speech on race in America in my adult lifetime".
Alistair Darling made an honest speech at the conference and it is not immediately obvious what moving him would achieve, especially since Mr Brown is so closely identified in the public mind with the economy.
History may one day record that maybe the most honest speech about why we invaded Iraq was given by Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressing the filing cabinets in an empty hallway just outside his office at No. 10 Downing Street.
He would like Bloomsbury to become a watchword for honest speech and thought, a distrust of jingoism, a commitment to sexual freedom and equality, to penal reform and freedom of information, and to friendship.
The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor's offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech.
Although Carter's remarkably honest speech about the need for an enlightened energy policy resonated with the public, the media and the Moral Majority savaged the president for the "malaise" he supposedly believed was afflicting America (he never used that word).
Bill Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman, said in an e-mail message, "The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor's offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech".
