133 Comments

1. Derek Moyer:

What would satisfy you, Mr. Simon? Should Barack, for the sake of satisfying polemical rhetoric that has met polemical rhetoric, denounce the very soul of Rev. Wright? What would you ask him to do? Barack admitted, VERY CLEARLY, in his speech that his church housed the best and the worst, the most ignorant and the most inspired, the entire spectrum. If you would rather sit back and enjoy your own cynical and facile demagoguery than enjoin the fact that this spectrum is what we find in the smallest communities and the largest cities, the most liberal of advocacy programs and the most conservative think-tanks, in your home and in mine, well, Mr. Simon, that is your prerogative. Just remember that your ‘poem’ could never have been speaking for you, because you didn’t ‘do’ anything. Or you could choose to set aside cynicism DESPITE all the reasons that call for it, and respond in kind when a fellow human, even if it is one you don’t really like, recognizes that FIRST OF ALL and BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE, we stand on this ground in this country facing each other as humans, and that if we choose to begin from somewhere other than that, we will never find that more perfect union.

Mar 18, 2008 - 11:41 am 2. dougf:

What would satisfy you, Mr. Simon?

Well let’s see —

How about leaving the church. At once. With apologies for subjecting his children to the ‘content’ there.

Period.

Nothing less, nothing more.

All else is just calculated sound and fury signifying absolutely NOTHING. In other words — typical Obama.

A messiah for the easily confused.

Mar 18, 2008 - 11:57 am 3. Wankerville:

Roger, your Obama Derangement Syndrome is a snooze.

Mar 18, 2008 - 11:59 am 4. jimmy mack:

a passionate little gem/straight from the heart.

bravo.

Mar 18, 2008 - 12:07 pm 5. nancy K:

Roger – you took the words right out of my mouth. Col Ha-Kavod.

Mar 18, 2008 - 12:09 pm 6. Linda Frank:

Wow! Powerful!

Mar 18, 2008 - 12:11 pm 7. Teplost:

“…FIRST OF ALL and BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE, we stand on this ground in this country facing each other as humans, and that if we choose to begin from somewhere other than that, we will never find that more perfect union.”
Oh, please, Derek Moyer, give it a rest. How are people in this country going to face each other as human beings when white liberals won’t stay in changing neighborhoods? We don’t need Obama to bring us together, and all the high minded white folks espousing his rhetoric don’t want it either. They want to PRETEND that’s what they want. They want to believe that all they have to do is vote for a black candidate, and they are off the hook. Hey, if all those high-minded white liberals wanted us to come together, why did they move out of my neighborhood? All they ever had to do is stay. What a bunch of bull!

Mar 18, 2008 - 12:31 pm 8. Ubu Roi:

“Reverend” Wright is not exactly news; crazy, anti-semitic, racist black preachers have been talking this sort of lunacy for decades–and with the tacit approval (but inner discomfort) of most of the white cognoscenti. This bizarre admixture of Marcus Garvey, the worst of WEB Dubois, neo-Marxism, Chomsky, Continental academic jargon, and dumbed-down liberation theory has been poisoning black churches, and with it, the black intelligentsia for quite a while now (just listen to that preposterous phony, Cornell West, for 5 minutes on any subject if you doubt me).

What most Americans didn’t know (and what the leftist media hoped we wouldn’t find out about) is now front and center in their living rooms; I guess it’s about time someone pointed out the problems with what “Reverend” Wright has to say these past 20 years. And all the while Obama nodded his head.

Mar 18, 2008 - 12:38 pm 9. Ed Wallis:

Derek Moyer, What hate-filled rubbish to spew…you fit well with Rev. Wright! You are telling this man he has no voice – thanks for being so open with your bigotry for the world to see.

Feel free to “face someone” who shouts “God DAMN America!” or “the U:S: of KKK-A!” if you have so little self-respect or, more likely, so much self-loathing.

NOT ME.

This “poem” speaks volumes to the hypocricy of the d/evolution of black culture in America.

Mar 18, 2008 - 1:27 pm 10. Larry:

Behold the power of the kool-aid.

Mar 18, 2008 - 1:50 pm 11. ROA:

Did Barak mention that his grandmother might have had a better opinion of Blacks, if his black father had stayed around to raise him, instead of abandoning him?

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:15 pm 12. Michael J. Totten:

Barack Obama gave a good speech, and I think he means well, but he should have chosen a pastor in the mold of Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s real simple, and nothing he can say will ever change that.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:17 pm 13. Ralph Phelan:

What would satisfy you?

The same thing that would satisfy the people of New York that Eliot Spitzer should have remained their governor:

Nothing I can imagine.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:19 pm 14. DirtCrashr:

Wouldn’t real CHANGE be a change away from all the Leftwing race and gender baiting and America-hating pseudo-neo-Liberal intellectual pandering?
If WE are the change we’ve been waiting for, then that’s some serious CHANGE to which we should aspire – an end, finally, to all the playground shtick of Identity-Politics-As-Usual.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:20 pm 15. Andrew:

Yes, Michael, if only Barack had known about the other church down the street whose pastor was the reincarnation of Martin Luther King.

It’s certainly something when the moral goalposts are shifted so much that doing the right thing is only possible in an alternate universe.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:21 pm 16. Jeffersonian:

What, really, could Obama have said? We can read his lips, but we can also watch his feet. For 20 years, he sat and listened to his pastor rant against America, whites, Jews. He sat idly as a lunatic antisemite, Farrakhan, was lionized and feted.

That, after two decades of this insanity and venom, he can equate this fulminating crank with his grandmother for a single offhand remark about fearing young, black men is the height of madness.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:28 pm 17. Larry:

Ok Andrew, and what does that tell us about the state of black politic?

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:32 pm 18. jblog:

Here’s a question for Mr. Moyer — would this speech satisfy you if the candidate who gave it and the spiritual advisor it referenced were white?

I highly doubt it.

If that were the case, I suspect nothing except the candidate’s immediate withdrawal from the campaign would satisfy you.

We have to get away from a double standard that says it’s wrong for white people to hate black people because they’re black (and, btw, it is wrong), but it’s okay for black people to hate white people because they’re white.

And that is precisely Rev. Wright — who says he embraces black liberation theology, which is defined as having a God who loves black people but hates white ones — has been preaching.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:35 pm 19. william:

I just heard some sound bites of Obama addressing the Imus issue back when. He said that he did not wish his little girls listening to such harmful comments and that a man like Imus has no place in public life. But he had no problems with his chldren learning white people caused AIDS and he still cannot disown his preacher. It was a good speech, well delivered. So what.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:35 pm 20. Doug Santo:

This poem reminds me why I respect and admire the civil rights workers who helped change conditions in this country. It also reminds what the civil rights movement has become. The movement has become a home to race hustlers, bigots, and opportunists.

I reject O’Bama completely as a nominee for president.

Doug Santo

Pasadena, CA

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:42 pm 21. dougf:

“Yes, Michael, if only Barack had known about the other church down the street whose pastor was the reincarnation of Martin Luther King.

It’s certainly something when the moral goalposts are shifted so much that doing the right thing is only possible in an alternate universe.”

Say does this mean, if the first clubhouse I happen to encounter on my travels, belongs to the Ayrian Brotherhood, that I get a pass for being a member for the next 20 years ?

Especially if they do ‘good works’ in the community, and I am usually passed out drunk every time they go on a rant about their favorite subjects ?

Those ‘choices’ being so hard to actually implement and all.

Wow, the Obama apologists are getting desperate now. Between this type of ‘reasoning’, and Sullivan’s ghastly swooning and cooing, it’s actually getting pretty embarrassing.

Now I know why I have always hated CULTS.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:45 pm 22. kam:

“Barack admitted, VERY CLEARLY, in his speech that his church housed the best and the worst, the most ignorant and the most inspired, the entire spectrum.”

1) “Housing” the whole spectrum ain’t the same thing as elevating the worst of it to the pastorate.

2) “VERY CLEARLY” is usually an attempt defend what isn’t really all that clear. So it is here. That the church had the worst (and probably some of the best) didn’t need clarifying; it’s undeniable. What was, and remains, obscure is Obama’s own position with regard to the worst. As demonstrated in deeds, not words.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:46 pm 23. Andrew:

Larry: Nothing good. But if you’re going to fix a mess, you have to get your hands dirty. I think Dick Cheney said something similar in a different context.

Black America isn’t running for President. Barack Obama is. However deplorable Wright’s views were, I don’t think they were bad enough to require Obama to refuse to participate in one of the most important institutions of the neighborhood and city in which he had chosen to become involved.

Wright didn’t call for violence against whites or anyone else. It’s a shame that so many people would think better of Obama if he had retreated back into a private life, or had switched to a small, uninfluential church, and squandered the accumulated social capital of Trinity just because of the imperfect worldview of its pastor.

But if the speech he delived today didn’t convince you, certainly I can’t.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:51 pm 24. cassandra:

I have been made to feel sad by his speech.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:54 pm 25. Bill Whittle:

Bravo, Roger.

Those who ask “what will it take to forgive Obama?” miss the point on so many levels it almost leaves me speechless.

Almost.

You talk about this as a form of ‘redemption,’ as if there is some rhetorical or behavioral hurdle that must be leapt to regain my (or Roger’s, or America’s) trust and confidence.

But this is not about redemption. It’s not about “redeeming” your candidate, because this is not a ‘gaffe’ or a ‘miscalculation’ that can be repaired.

The instant I heard Wright say “God Damn America,” I was repulsed. Viscerally. There is no set of circumstances I can imagine that would make me speak in those terms, because I love this country to the core and I can divorce her faults from her essence, which I take to be good and decent and just. To think that in those stunned days after 9/11 that his first thoughts would be that we deserved this — thoughts broadcast to cheering throngs while the smoke was till rising in Manhattan — fills me not with disappointment, but with rage.

I personally don’t give a shit about Wright or what he believes. All I can say is that my instant, immediate and vioulent reaction was that if I was in the presence of such rhetoric I would rise from my seat, take my wife and children by the hand, and leave, never to return. That is the correct response to this vile hatred.

A few months ago, I thought that Obama might do more symbolic good than the policy harm he will surely do. Since then, there have been a series of ever-increasing red flags, and these red flags all point in the same direction: that a man with such a deeply conflicted past, whose mother and wife and father figure are or were committed America haters, has no business being President of the United States.

Barack Obama, despite his oratorial skill, has revealed himself with every step to be a man steeped in racism and hatred for the country he wishes to lead.

There is no way around it. Derek Moyer’s puerile defense is absurd on its face: Racism is racism. End of story. I am not the first person to point out that if we discovered that George Bush had spent the last half of his life attending backwoods Klan meetings — that he met his wife in the Klan, that he had his daughters baptized by a Imperial Grand Dragon, that he went back again and again and again to hear that Black people were monkeys and pigs — would Derek Moyer be willing to accept George Bush say VERY CLEARLY (now that he has been discovered) that he finds many of the messages reprehensible? Shall we disavow a lifetime of the deepest and most personal association with such hatred simply because of a bland assurance that the Klan contains “the best and the worst, the most ignorant and the most inspired?”

Or shall we perhaps accept the evidence of our lyin’ eyes and say what is immediately obvious to a small child: that these messages are not only pervasive in that church, they are in fact the selling point of such a Klan meeting or “congregation.” That hatred and prejudice is the product that they are selling and that their members are lining up to buy.

He is an Illinois representative, and if the people of Illinois choose this rhetoric of ruin, that is there business. But below policy, below position, below character even and most certainly below rhetorical skill — deep down, in his or her core — I want the leader of my country to love my country: the country that is, the country that was, and not just the country that might soothe Wright’s white-hot fury at phantoms that do no exist.

And I do NOT trust this man to be President of the United States.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:54 pm 26. Joan of Argghh!:

Dear Barack, Even Epsicopalians, fer cryin’ out loud, know when enough is enough.

You think walking out on YOUR appropriated heritage is tough? Sheesh.

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:58 pm 27. Erica S.:

Obama is toast. He gives good speeches, but does that matter when you can’t believe a word of what he says? Heartland America will never elect this character. For every nutroot swooning over his oratorical skills, there are a 100 hard working American voters who simply remembers: “God Damn America”…

Mar 18, 2008 - 2:58 pm 28. Andrew:

Doug: Of course the fact that the church did good works is irrelevant in itself. Castro, Chavez, and every two-bit gangster does good works to win support. But your argument depends on Wright being as bad as the Aryan brotherhood. Wright is racist, but he’s not violent.

Just because “black” and “white” are opposite colors doesn’t mean you can construct an analogy by switching the two around. Black racism against whites and white racism against blacks are equally bad in the abstract, but in reality, we need to consider historical context, if not to excuse or justify, then at least to not get too bent out of shape. It might be noble for one to only care about an ideal where all racism is equally deplorable (if one is also free of self-congratulation and bitterness), but only caring about an ideal rarely yields practical results.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:02 pm 29. Lumyrra:

“Well let’s see —

How about leaving the church. At once. With apologies for subjecting his children to the ‘content’ there.

Period.

Nothing less, nothing more.”

If he stopped lying and making excuses it’d help, too.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:04 pm 30. Cameron:

I respect your poetry, Mr. Simon. I think it’s sad though how you have either missed the forest for the trees, or have become what you once devoted so much of yourself to fighting against.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:09 pm 31. A. N. Pierson:

“Doug: Of course the fact that the church did good works is irrelevant in itself. Castro, Chavez, and every two-bit gangster does good works to win support. But your argument depends on Wright being as bad as the Aryan brotherhood. Wright is racist, but he’s not violent.”

What nonsense. Sometimes the Aryan Brotherhood isn’t violent. Sometimes they’re just bigoted, like Wright. None of this even faintly excuses Obama staying there for twenty years. Andrew, you ought come up with something better than that. With that specious reasoning you just expose his phoniness. One of the interesting facts in all this is that Oprah left the Trinity Chuurch eight years ago and was subsequently attacked by crazy Jeremiah. She knew better. Why didn’t Obama?

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:09 pm 32. ic:

“leaving the church”

He needs the church to prove his “blackness”. Black Americans’ gripes against America always go back to slavery and civil rights marches. Obama’s ancestors were never slaves nor civil rights marchers. How could he convince voters in his district to vote for him? He needed the minister to be elected in his district. He’ll be a traitor if he threw the minister under the bus now.

Frankly, it is naive to believe a politician. A politician’s priority is always power and money: power to extract money from you to “earmark” for those who deserve your money. E.g. U of Chicago Hospital where his wife doubled her salary just before a million dollar was earmarked for the Hospital.

It’s really not a politician’s fault if you woke up one day and saw his true nature. It’s not his fault if you believed him to be your savior. You should have known better.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:11 pm 33. megapotamus:

Um, no snaps for the poetry but on the question oft asked “What would have done it for you?” and I say this as a Righty disposed positively to BHO (or is that BTO?)… Certainly it was the product of PR and legal counsel but Mel Gibson, when he had his drunken freak out said, more or less, “I said things that I do not believe and which are not true.” If Barry could say something like that re: crack, HIV, 911 being payback for Hiroshima we would be on the right track. This maneuver with his grannie is sad and classless. She expressed fear of black men on the street and some “stereotypes”? This was the other side of Wrightism? What a load. This is just daring the unwashed to broach the subject. Well we broach. We broach.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:14 pm 34. Cameron:

So guys, what should Bush have done to distance himself from Pat Robertson, his long time friend and confidante, after Robertson blamed America’s actions (homosexuality and abortion) for 9/11? Apparently nothing would be sufficient and that ruined his career. No? Should Bush apologize for “subjecting his children” to Pat’s teachings? Give me a break. This is all because it’s a black man saying these things and not a white man. When white preachers like McCain’s new friend Hagee say all kinds of crazy stuff, it’s no big deal, but when this black preacher says god damn america it’s all over. Please.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:18 pm 35. Robin:

I thought it was a brilliant speech.

Unfortunately, he only briefly mentioned past discrimination against any group other than African slaves and their descendants. Discrimination against Chinese and Japanese wasn’t pretty either. What about discrimination against Irish, Jews, and Indians?

I thought the part about welfare policies hurting blacks was interesting.

Obama said (sorry not a direct quote), aside from the many blacks that clawed and scratched their way to get a piece of the American Dream, many didn’t make it; ultimately defeated in one way or another by discrimination. Were there no other factors for this defeat, like accepting welfare with its bad effects or and poor life choices?

I watched the speech on MSNBCTV. Did anyone else see the Oreo ad directly below the screen?

Has anyone else noticed that most “black leaders” don’t look very African?

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:27 pm 36. Nor Meyer:

Barak Obama’s 20 year affiliation with Wright and his racist church has set back race relations another 40 years. His candidacy has seriously wrecked the possibility of getting a person of color in the White House any time in the foreseeable future. For the sake of Condi or Colin he should forewith resign from the campaign.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:35 pm 37. Andrew:

A. N. Pierson: But the distinguishing fact about the Aryan brotherhood is their violence, not their bigotry. Most people are mildly bigoted from time to time. We typically even tolerate more severe bigotry if the context of the situation recommends it: if the offender is a close friend or family member, or if a greater purpose, like moving the community forward, sits on the other side of the scale. Bigotry can be offset by other interests; violence cannot. (But then, there’s war.)

I know nothing about any intrigue involving Oprah and Wright, but I imagine his criticism was related to his antipathy for “middleclassness” (i.e., bourgeoisness, I assume). So what? Depending on how you define it, middleclassness is either one of the best, or the one of the worst, things about America. A critique of the sins of middleclassness could be semi-Marxist, or essentially conservative, depending on what values are attacked. What does this have to do with Obama?

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:36 pm 38. gh:

I am willing to take him at face value- that we as a generation of americans are moving beyond race and he epitomises the trend….IF,AND ONLY IF..he takes this argument to its logical conclusion –and announces that he will work to do away with alla ffirmative action programs if he gets elected.

Mar 18, 2008 - 3:51 pm 39. Gabriel Hanna:

Neither Pat Robertson nor Jerry Falwell are George Bush’s pastor.

He was not married by them, does not attend their churches, and did not take his children to listen to their preaching every Sunday.

Obama said that Don Imus should be fired for one remark. But his pastor gets a lifetime pass.

Mar 18, 2008 - 4:12 pm 40. holdfast:

At best, BHO joined this church to get the street cred he needed to enter black Chicago politics, making him a phoney. At worst, Wright really is his spiritual (and political?) mentor – BHO conspicously copies Wright’s speaking style and drew the title of his latest book from one of Wright’s sermons. He gave large sums of money to the church. He took his children there and exposed them to this hateful rhetoric.

And now he is supposed to be the “post racial” candidate that can heal the divides and bring us all together? The Un-Jesse Jackson, the Non-Al Sharpton? Please – pull the other leg. He deliberately steeped himself and his family in this hate-America, hate-Whitey, hate the Jew crap, despite the fact that America has been damned good to him and his family. Despite the fact that his the white side of his family raised him when his black, polygamous father went back to Africa?

Maybe he feels guilty for being half-white and so sucessful? Maybe he resents his white family because he didn’t look like them? I don’t know, and don’t really care, but am really sure I want him nowhere near the presidency – Hillary may be an emotionless power-hungry automaton, but she’s preferable to this guy – whoever he really is.

Mar 18, 2008 - 4:25 pm 41. Buzz:

A few people have defended Wright on the grounds that “he isn’t violent”. But he spews his hatred every sunday to a large audience that includes hundreds if not thousands of young people. Would you be shocked to learn if any of his congregants had ever committed violent crimes against “evil” white people?

Mar 18, 2008 - 4:34 pm 42. Larry:

Strom Thurmond wasn’t violent either, but praising him cost Trent Lott his job. I think all most people want is a consistent set of rules.

Mar 18, 2008 - 4:57 pm 43. Big T:

If Barack wanted to trick you, he would have ditched the Rev.

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:00 pm 44. David Ross:

I rented Apocalypto and saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I’d consider that a personal expression of forgiveness for Mel Gibson. So that was a year or two after his outburst.

How about this: I’ll forgive Barack Obama for keeping Wright on as advisor, if he keeps himself from publicly supporting him (or other racists, like this Otis Moss character) for a year or two. Sound fair?

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:01 pm 45. Arthur McVarish:

Barack & his Mentor Wright have just set the Civil Rights effort back 25 years. God Bless America!

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:12 pm 46. Korla Pundit:

He could say “I’ve called this press conference to announce that I’ve invented a time machine, and have gone back 20 years, and kicked myself in the head, and have changed the… Gee, what were we just talking about?”

Beyond that, hollow words can no serve as a Potemkin facade over Barack’s racial B.S. politics.

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:13 pm 47. Andrew B:

Roger–

My Grandparents were friends with Carolyn Goodman. I was named after Andrew, and I share your dismay.

What has been happening in Chicago?

PS: I wonder if you know my Mom.

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:13 pm 48. Mike:

Powerful stuff Roger.

Obama has used the hell out of Pastor Wright. He used him to get ahead in Chicago faith-politics, and he’s using him now, portraying him as a sad old man driven mad by racial injustice, and saying: ‘But I’ve evolved beyond that; I’m better than him.’ The cynicism is breathtaking. He’s taken 20 years of race-hate and divisiveness in which he acquiesced, and leveraged it into a call for unity.

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:22 pm 49. Mark William Paules:

Obama expects America to believe that he can simultaneously heal the nation’s racial divide even as he excuses away the racist comments of a close confidant. I’m sorry, but my mind is just not agile enough to embrace that kind of double-think. What’s becoming more clear is that Mr. Obama has a talent for race hustling. Like any good huckster, he knows his mark. How did he get so adept at manipulating white, liberal guilt? My guess: an early childhood lesson learned on his mother’s knee. We can only hope that double standard racism won’t fly with the American public. President Obama? God spare us. We can look forward to four years of Rev. Wright screaming racism everytime legitimate criticism of policy is raised. And this will heal the racial divide? God save the republic!

Mar 18, 2008 - 5:35 pm 50. Sally Holmes:

Bravo, bravo, Roger! You couldn’t have said it more clearly or more poignantly! What an impostor this Barack Obama is!

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:07 pm 51. red:

—Black racism against whites and white racism against blacks are equally bad in the abstract, but in reality, we need to consider historical context, if not to excuse or justify, then at least to not get too bent out of shape. –

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Racism is racism. Its time to stop excusing, now!

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:15 pm 52. Keisha:

Well said, Roger.

Black liberation theology spews racist, leftist garbage under the protection of the US Constitution.

Barack has to use a lot of that “magic negro magic” to explain both his 1995 ode to cluelessness, “Dreams of My Father”, and his 20 year close relationship with a racist bigot pastor who happened to preside at Obama’s wedding and the baptisms of his children.

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:15 pm 53. ex-democrat:

i’m so inspired by the speech that i’ve decided to work every bit as hard as the obamassiah himself has worked at overcoming the race issue by joing a white church that will help further my career and and then sit in its pews for the next 20 years yukking it up with the other congregants while the reverend spews vile racist and anti-american BS!
then i’m going to lecture everyone else on improving themselves!
thankyou, jesus!

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:22 pm 54. Peter:

I was a child when the post WW2 civil rights struggle got going. My parent’s church got a new pastor in, I believe 1958, maybe ‘59. That pastor was a white racist, finding biblical reasons for one bunch of people to be “better” than another. My parents changed churches. We did not leave in the middle of the sermon, we just went to a different church the next week. It isn’t that difficult.

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:22 pm 55. John Scherwitz:

“As demonstrated in deeds, not words.”

Amen, Kam, Amen.

What Obama has done flies directly against his fine words. He has never done anything differently than any other Democrat. His fine words are not enough.

Today, I respect you more than ever, Mr. Simon. Thank you.

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:45 pm 56. docweasel:

I’ve found Obama ignorant, pathetic, risible, a useful tool for damaging the Dems, just plain stupid and irritating, but after reading this, I find he makes me angry.

Because I really do believe in racial equality, and strive to live up to that in my private life and do what I can to help ensure it in every part of this country, and Obama hurts that cause, and he does so out of sheer blind ambition and disregard for who he hurts, including those of both races he with whom he shares a heritage.

But no one should be surprised, he’s had the best teachers, haven’t the Democrats done that for generations? Hillary is just as bad.

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:47 pm 57. jill:

Obama the Unifier? Why hasn’t he been working in his own church to help his congregation towards unity with the rest of America?

Mar 18, 2008 - 6:50 pm 58. Iago:

The Left Reverend Wright has more in common with BO than just sharing twenty years of the same theology. They also share a radical Socialist economic and social philosophy. The NYT shares the same outlook, and damns the United States more often and to a larger audience than Wright ever dreamed of.

I really don’t care what goofy things are said in churches of any persuasion. But Wright is not trying to unite the country, and I question if BO has gotten his ideas on uniting the country from Wright, even though he claims that his church is an important influence for him. Either BO spent twenty years in this church without realizing the message that his pastor and mentor was preaching or BO is conning us on his real intent.

The various destractions allow BO to avoid specifics of his policies. BO does not talk much on his sterling leftist voting record in the Senate. He will go as far as he can go without giving any details on what he plans. Why should he reveal himself? Millions of people are sold on BO now, based on hollow rhetoric and empty words.

God bless the United States, we are going to need it.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:01 pm 59. D. Aristophanes:

Roger L. Simon has some ’splainin’ to do about his infatuation with the likes of Stokley Carmichael and his funding of the violent, murderous Black Panthers.

I think a good place to start atoning for your sins against America, Roger, would be to donate a portion of your Pajamas Media CEO salary to victims of the Black Panthers.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:03 pm 60. Qwinn:

“Wright didn’t call for violence against whites or anyone else”

Heh. I dunno. If someone told me that a certain group of people, however defined, had been trying to commit genocide against -me- and my people by deliberately creating AIDS specifically tailored to kill me, deliberately introduced crack cocaine into my neighborhoods specifically to kill my children, that we deserved planes flying into the world trade center and killing thousands…

…at that point, you don’t really need to extol violence. If the person listening actually believes that odious crap, the urge to violence arises naturally from an instinct for self preservation. That’s the whole point.

Qwinn

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:04 pm 61. Gordon Marock:

The situation with Obama is no different than the situation with white progressives in the South in the 50’s and 60’s. Back then, if you were white and spoke and acted for civil rights, you were often ostracized and despised by ‘polite’ white society. If you spoke up when someone told a racist joke at the Country Club, you weren’t invited back. Yet the civil rights movement required whites to take a brave stand against the status quo. Now, in order to have cred’ with the black community, you must, at a minimum, tacitly approve of the ‘kill whitey’ mantra that passes for progressive activism in the black community. So, if Obama had any real integrity, he would have damned Pastor White and all who believe as he does, in an effort to truly put an end to racism.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:13 pm 62. Rich Casebolt:

Wright didn’t call for violence against whites or anyone else.

He exhorted the Almighty to damn America … and the damnation of the Almighty can be pretty violent!

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:13 pm 63. Jimbo:

What is it about today’s conservatives that make them so hateful? You inflate these non-issues into self-catalyzing rage. Why are you not equally outraged by John McCain’s association with racists? Good grief. Calm down and worry about the issues that will really matter.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:13 pm 64. Gregory Koster:

Dear Mr. Simon: I must be the only one who is interested in reading how you lost the full use of your left hand for life in South Carolina. If it isn’t too painful to recall. Rest of it is bang on.

Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:14 pm 65. Doug:

There is NOTHING he can say. Obama has had a 20 year close relationship with this man who baptized his children, performed his wedding and clearly inspired him in so many ways. The man is an out and out unreconstructed black separatist who hates this country and espouses conspiracy theories to his congregation. Obama is full of crap if he says he was not aware of this. Obama is going to go down in flames if he gets the nomination. Hillary’s best chance is if the super delegates realize this and turn against Obama before it’s too late.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:32 pm 66. Terry Gain:

Michael J. Totten :
Barack Obama gave a good speech, and I think he means well, but he should have chosen a pastor in the mold of Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s real simple, and nothing he can say will ever change that.

—-

Well said. What the Andrews of this world disingenuously refuse to admit is that he went to that church voluntarily, not in chains.

Most of us choose a church because we are comforted or inspired by the pastor’s sermons. Obama sat through 20 years of anti-white, anti-American venom and not only did not raise his voice against this bigot, but expressed his admiraton and respect for the man.

Obama is unfit and the only white people who will support him are the ignorant or the self loathing.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:41 pm 67. David P.:

How naive and uninformed you are, information about the unsavory characters this bird flocks with has been floating out around for months. Did it a take FOX News to report to enlighten you or do you normally rely on the word of every politician seeking your vote. You call his speech today bullshit, whats bullshit is how easily you become influenced by someones words rather then their actions.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:45 pm 68. mph:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair and his “oops, you got me” response speech have only confirmed the obvious. Obama is a typical cynical politician. In his case, he needed credibility in South Chicago so he partnered with the people who could buy him influence (Wright and Rezko).

Obama doesn’t believe in Wright’s foolishness because he doesn’t believe in anything. His prime motivation is the ability to exercise power.

Obama doesn’t care to sooth race relations. He seeks to exploit them, evidenced by his proposals for more socialism and more affirmative action.

Obama would happily throw Jeremiah Wright under the bus if it meant more power. His problem now is how to delicately do just that without looking like a hypocrite and damaging his credibility as a uniter. He must now attempt to present himself as a politician unique in American history, someone who doesn’t just feel your pain, but feels everyone’s pain.

Mar 18, 2008 - 7:59 pm 69. miriam:

Whatever happened to “Love thy Neighbor,” a once popular motif in Christian churches?

Jeremiah Wright would make a damn good mullah.

Mar 18, 2008 - 8:03 pm 70. M Brown:

“The instant I heard Wright say “God Damn America,” I was repulsed. Viscerally. There is no set of circumstances I can imagine that would make me speak in those terms, because I love this country to the core and I can divorce her faults from her essence, which I take to be good and decent and just.”

Even if you saw your community ravaged by a policy which unjustly targeted them? Because that’s the context in which Wright said the phrase that repulsed you so – he was refering to the War on Drugs which has succeeded only in incarcerating more and more black males and increasing violence in the most impoverished and defenseless communities. Looking at the reality of the drug war the only thing I would add to Reverand Wright’s God DAMN America is AMEN!

Mar 18, 2008 - 8:06 pm 71. ElliotNC:

A tad bit off topic, but can anyone explain why the Drudge Report published the speech BEFORE it was given or released?

According to Drudge, vis-a-vis the Barack Turban-Gate photo, it was the Clinton campaign that had the leaker. That whole episode, with its rapid fire, nuclear responses from three Obama staff, including Barack and Ploufe, look coordinated, on the same morning Hillary was preparing to give a major policy speech.

Would Drudge now have us believe that the Clinton campaign got him an advance copy of Obama’s speech, too?

Mar 18, 2008 - 8:45 pm 72. mishu:

mbrown, try to focus. Why damn the whole country for the policy. Damn the policy perhaps but the country? Never mind the crackpot conspiracies. Damn the country and don’t forget the collection plate.

“Most of us choose a church because we are comforted or inspired by the pastor’s sermons.”

and yet protestants say you shouldn’t have an intermediary to talk to God. ahahahahaha,

Mar 18, 2008 - 8:56 pm 73. Neal:

Andrew writes:

“Just because “black” and “white” are opposite colors doesn’t mean you can construct an analogy by switching the two around. Black racism against whites and white racism against blacks are equally bad in the abstract, but in reality, we need to consider historical context, if not to excuse or justify, then at least to not get too bent out of shape.”

My Gawd! That’s the kind of thinking that gets people killed.

Mar 18, 2008 - 9:10 pm 74. Barack Obama:

I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus, but I would also say that there’s nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude.

Mar 18, 2008 - 9:24 pm 75. Sam:

What can satisfy? Nothing can satisfy at this point. Barack Obama’s true nature has been revealed as incompatible with the office of the Presidency. Or for any elected office for that matter. But unfortunately anti-Americanism and racial division is a plus in some districts.

Mar 18, 2008 - 9:40 pm 76. whoframedrudy:

“Barack Obama gave a good speech, and I think he means well, but he should have chosen a pastor in the mold of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Yes, like the vast majority of church-going blacks. Obama sickened me today. He lied many times this past week, saying he never heard these things until his campaign started. Just two weeks ago, Obama was playing the race card, accusing Hillary of planting the photo of him in African dress.

This is not about the black church. This was a demagogue using oratory to manipulate a crowd into a racist, anti-American frenzy. Wright could do the same thing at a Daily Kos convention. Obama learned his art of crowd manipulation from a master.

I would like to know if Obama ever discussed oratory technique and crowd manipulation with Jeremiah Wright.

Mar 18, 2008 - 9:41 pm 77. Sam:

Check this out. It should be the next big thing in upcoming news cycles:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3031317&page=1

“I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus,” Obama told ABC News, “but I would also say that there’s nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude.”

“He didn’t just cross the line,” Obama said. “He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America.

Is this rich, or what?

If this DOESN’T get wide play then the media is irredeemable.

Mar 18, 2008 - 10:45 pm 78. urthshu:

Rev. Wright is actually worse than any mullah.

They’ll shout “Death to America!” – that’s bad, sure, but its death, not a call for the entire nation to burn in Hell for all eternity.

Mar 19, 2008 - 4:48 am 79. Barbula:

Heh – the Obama quotes regarding Imus are enlightening. Hypocritical, two-faced, lying sack of s**t. In other words, a Democrat. And he and his minions are going to lead America to the Racial Promised Land? Right.

He shot the Albatross, and it has been hung around his neck – no amount of pretty words will make the Albatross fly again.

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:30 am 80. Tom von Gremp:

Howl, Baby, Howl!

Go Bears!!©

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:30 am 81. cleek:

“. For 20 years, he sat and listened to his pastor rant against America, whites, Jews. He sat idly as a lunatic antisemite, Farrakhan, was lionized and feted.”

if you please, where can we see the transcripts of those 20 years of sermons ? i’d like to verify for myself the content of every sermon Wright gave for the past 20 years.

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:32 am 82. SC&A:

The speech Obama should have made:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm

Mar 19, 2008 - 6:23 am 83. Neighborhood Bully:

Here’s the problem.

What he says sounds fine, but what he has done is the same old thing. How can he bring change when his actually prescriptions are either well established leftist orthodoxy, platitudes, or just plain vaque.

On the Wright issue, he is trying to have it both ways. Sound reasonable, without really tossing the good reverand out.

In the end, what you DO is what matters in this world. Not what you say. Not what you think. Obama has done little in his political career and has lied down with dogs to advance/launch it.

Until he has a real track record of things that he has DONE, he isn’t ready for the job he seeks.

Mar 19, 2008 - 7:19 am 84. tanstaafl:

I lived through all the rabble rousing speechifying of the 60’s.

I listened to Angela Davis rant at Berzerkley.

In my view, the words and rants of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright fall into perfect sync with the self-serving “black” yellers and screamers of that era.

And the not so good Rev. Wright is mostly about his own megalomania and his ability to whip up the crowd (a form of “power”).

The rhetorical devices he uses are identical to any ranting/speechifying guy with an audience (see A. Hitler)

Jeremiah tosses in the little extra added attraction of James Cone, Black Liberation Theology, The Worm© Louis Farrakhan, the nutcase Ghadafi, and his own barely concealed Nation of Islam fealties.

Unfortunately, there have been few genuine leaders in the movement to eradicate this nation’s legacy of slavery and discrimination. I’ll look to Rosa Parks, maybe MLK

But to me, Wright is as b-o-r-i-n-g as his cronies and brothers in hysteria of the 1960’s.

And Barack Obama in his book makes far too much of “grandma” in Hawaii getting accosted by a “black” panhandler.

And the guys arrested in the slayings of 2 female university students in the south in recent weeks, each girl shot dead in the cold of night, are all black.

So, now, deal with my “racism”.

Mar 19, 2008 - 8:01 am 85. Valerie:

Well, during the last election, the Dems failed to take us back to 2000, so now they are trying to take us back to 1963.

Mar 19, 2008 - 8:28 am 86. Jack Denver:

“Black America isn’t running for President. Barack Obama is. However deplorable Wright’s views were, I don’t think they were bad enough to require Obama to refuse to participate in one of the most important institutions of the neighborhood and city in which he had chosen to become involved.”

Let’s do a thought experiment and transpose these words onto John McCain (or any other white Presidential candidate). Let’s suppose that McCain belong to a church where David Duke was the pastor:

“White America isn’t running for President. John McCain is. However deplorable Duke’s views were, I don’t think they were bad enough to require McCain to refuse to participate in one of the most important institutions of the neighborhood and city in which he had chosen to become involved.”

Yeah, that would fly. Sure.

All of this is of a piece with the double standards (and implicit racism) of liberal America. Whites are held to the highest expectations and if one “racist” remark passes from the lips of Imus or Geraldine Ferraro or whomever, they must be ritually cast overboard. But brown peoples are not expected to meet the exacting standards that are set for whites – they are after all from a different cultural tradition and have a history of being oppressed and besides, though we must never, ever utter these words out loud and must in fact vigorously denounce them at every opportunity, we know deep down that they are really inferior to us and can’t be held to the same standards as the “civilized” races. This is all of a piece with affirmative action, the license that is given to Palestinians to hurl rockets into civilian areas, the lack of outrage regarding Darfur, the over the top outrage regarding Guantanamo, the acceptance (even celebration – rap “artists”, graffiti “artists”,etc.) of dysfunctional behavior in the minority community, etc. If you filter everything thru the idea of one (higher) standard for “us” (for those to whom much is given, much is expected) and a different (lower) standard for “them”, then you can come up with the left’s position on every single issue.

Mar 19, 2008 - 9:00 am 87. submandave:

I’ve got to agree with Roger and Bill. Sen. Obama made a choice to embrace Rev. Wright warts, blemmishes, rhetoric, hate and all. This is a choice he made long ago and for twenty-odd years apparently supported. To say that the Senator is seeking redemption or reconcilliation for this choice is like a long-time Boston resident and Red Sox fan moving to the Bronx and trying to convince his Yankees neighbors that he is “reformed.”

I, too, have two young daughters and make great efforts to try and avoid having them exposed to racist views that are contrary to our beliefs. I can not imagine deliberately placing my children into such an environment of naked hate and contempt.

Mar 19, 2008 - 9:01 am 88. joeyess:

Roger, your poetry is bullsh*t.

Mar 19, 2008 - 9:12 am 89. nolo:

Shorter Roger L. Simon:

Why aren’t you black folks more grateful for *my* sacrifices?

Mar 19, 2008 - 9:26 am 90. Ralph Phelan:

nolo:

Maybe it’s more like “If I’d known you were gonna turn out to be such @$$holes, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

Mar 19, 2008 - 9:58 am 91. ex-democrat:

Shorter nolo – “I’m a moron.”

Mar 19, 2008 - 10:52 am 92. megapotamus:

Um, yeah nolo, I don’t think Roger is asking to have his ass kissed or anything, he is just holding the civil rights types to be true to the foundational principles. Would the political support for CR have been as strong if crackers like Roger had known what was in the immediate future? I’m thinkin’ the naked and politicized abandonment of color-blindness in the law. Few enough people are going to fight to dismantle a system that benefits them, much less if it is to build a new system that harms them. Reciprocity is what Roger asks for and that is the binding agent of any decent society.

Mar 19, 2008 - 11:09 am 93. Mars vs Hollywood:

Even if you saw your community ravaged by a policy which unjustly targeted them?

Funny story – you know those sentence disparities between powder and cocaine base that are the subject of so much outrage? They were enshrined in law by the work of black Congressmen, upset over the grevious collateral damage the crack trade inflicted on the black community.

May I live to be a thousand years old, I will NEVER understand the mindset that believes the interests of drug dealers somehow intersect with the interests of black people generally.

Mar 19, 2008 - 11:14 am 94. Marty:

Everyone has totally forgotten Wright saying the government knew about Pearl Harbor and let it happen… it’s in one of the many clips zipping around the internet.

No one has explained how THAT derives from legitimate black grievances, when they play the guilt card.

No, Wright just hates America… maybe he came to that because of race issues, but his hatred has gone beyond race, he just hates the country and always finds the bad in whatever it is or does.

And he is Obama’s pastor and spiritual guide.

And Obama wants to be President and is willing to throw his grandmother (not to mention Geraldine Ferraro) under the bus.

‘Nuff said???

Mar 19, 2008 - 11:21 am 95. Kallisti:

This poem and post is worthless.

Mar 19, 2008 - 11:50 am 96. Larry:

megapotamus – it’s not just “crackers” in general who are getting stabbed in the back here; it’s a specific variety of “cracker” who manage to end up universally hated no matter what they do. At least the rest of the “crackers” would be welcome at a klan meeting. This kind of “cracker” is welcome nowhere.

Mar 19, 2008 - 11:52 am 97. tanstaafl:

For an alternative to the Rev. too much in the news…have a look at

this guy

Raving, yes, but this Atlah-ean preacherman (God has renamed Harlem “Atlah”) makes a good point about the downside of affirmative action.

And yells at the assembled congregants (probably a little fearful of breathing under the onslaught…)”after 500 years you’re still whining about being on the bottom ???”

In another link, the interview with John Gibson, he exhorts his black congregation to “…stop blaming the white folks for everything”.

Refreshing, to put it mildly.

Mar 19, 2008 - 12:07 pm 98. tanstaafl:

However, in that video, Pastor Manning is also something of a shill for ex President Clinton and what he contends BillyJeff (“our first black President”) gave to the people of Harlem.

So that kind of negates his other points about blacks standing on their own two feet and not whining about injustices.

Mar 19, 2008 - 12:25 pm 99. Matt:

I think you’re still safe. This in no way qualifies as poetry.

Mar 19, 2008 - 12:46 pm 100. el producto:

Yeah, I disagree with my congregation’s rabbi. About 90% of the time, in fact. But not once have I heard an anti-American statement expressed, much less a rant against blacks or any other ethnic or religious group.

Mar 19, 2008 - 1:53 pm 101. Thom:

The “hates America” thing isn’t making anybody look particularly intelligent. If Wright is guilty of hate, it’s not “America” he hates, it’s parts of America. He’s an American, after all, and has many American friends and supporters, and I don’t think anyone here would say he hates himself or them. (Of course some will. Whatever.)

The question then is: Is it acceptable to hate (or be angry with or be disgusted by or whatever suits a non-biased purpose) parts of America? Of course there is. And I think evidence would say that Simon and supporters would agree.

Mar 19, 2008 - 2:01 pm 102. Jmskazoo:

Roger:

What DID you do it for?

Mar 19, 2008 - 2:25 pm 103. Larry:

Thom, you’re not making yourself look very intelligent. What part of “God damn America” don’t you understand?

Mar 19, 2008 - 3:11 pm 104. JoeS:

Mr. Simon:

Obama and his people refuse to accept the fact that many whites sacrificed to help win equal rights. To be thankful would mean that they lose the racial hatred that energizes them. (Few remember “your best friend” Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner)

On the other hand, the vast majority of black people have moved on from hatred into responsibility and success. These are the 75% of black Princeton grads who did not answer Michelle Obama’s childish senior class project.

I have many wonderful friends of all races that I have taught for 32 years in inner-city schools. I feel so sorry for Obama and all of them.

Mar 19, 2008 - 4:41 pm 105. Mark James:

Roger;

It is hard to have an honest discussion. Obama did a brilliant thing, in changing the discussion to one of race and acceptance. What the Rev. Wright tapes show is not that this candidate has a racist pastor, it shows that once again, Obama has a pattern of “lapses in Judgement”.

Rezko, Wright, Rezko again, Black Panthers, flag lapels, Weathermen, etc. Barak has shown on the positive side, that he is willing to work with the evilest in society to form a bridge. On the other hand, he lacks the judgement of character necessary to be President, based solely on who he chooses to associate with, and hold as role models. The Weathermen (and women) are about as vile as you can get, and are “white”, yet Obama met with, sat on board with, and never denounced them in meetings, even after they reaffirmed their beliefs in bombing our society.

This is not who we should have as leader of the free world.

Mar 19, 2008 - 4:56 pm 106. Karridine:

Roger, I too went with friends, teaching in South Carolina… I experienced black humans seeking ME out because hungry for the Message I carried…

I, too, had friends (black and white) cut in half by shotgun blasts in eastern Texas, apparently BECAUSE they were Baha’is and BECAUSE they were living the Baha’i principle of the Oneness of Humankind…

I didn’t do it for Obama. I don’t continue on this straight and far-reaching Path for politics, in ANY way, shape or form.

But when I see another pilgrim, I take time to smile, and thank you for your efforts, and wish you Godspeed in your life, today and tomorrow!

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:01 pm 107. Bryan:

Fantastic poem.

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:01 pm 108. Thanos:

The meter is a bit off, but the poem was good reading.

I’m not that great at poetry so instead I’ll give you the bumpersticker:

“Obama Lied; Liberals Cried”

Mar 19, 2008 - 5:05 pm 109. ldtregent:

The thing that has always bugged me about bigots of any type is how they act like they had some choice in what ever “superior” group they were born into, or as if they got appointed to it as an award. We can change our religion later on or leave the country or region we were born in but as far as WHAT we are born… Its the luck of the draw. We don’t as far as I’m aware chose our parents or family we just show up. So the whole business of someone being better because they are this or worse because they are that is baffling.

That being said people swooning over Obama because “he’s black” just as bizarre as his ex-preachers stupid rantings. He’s only 50% more black than Hillary. It’s just as stupid as people getting all excited about her because “She’s a woman”, as if that some how makes her ideas better.

Mar 19, 2008 - 6:18 pm 110. Bearster:

In his “apology” speech, Obama used the term “America’s original sin.” I think he is a religious man; he didn’t use that as a clever and witty way to say slavery was legal at the time of the founding of America.

I think he meant it in the biblical sense: we all share the sin of Eve disobeying God. White people today all share the guilt of slavery, and we can never expiate this guilt.

This, Obama says, Wright is right. God damn whites and god damn America!

This is bad for white people, but it’s worse for black people. There is no substitute for self-esteem and hard work, certainly not handouts doled out by a racist-collectivist government.

Mar 19, 2008 - 6:34 pm 111. tanstaafl:

God damn America is a perfect statement for a Nation of Islam/Black Muslim adherent.

And the Reverend Jeremiah seems to have made a mark for himself and attracted some acclaim for the position of Black Muslims that this country, as is, needs to be destroyed.

His rants remind me of Sayyid Qutb, the (Egyptian) Muslim who took such offense (or pretended to) at the bobby soxers’ in a Colorado university in the late 1940’s.

Sayyid Qutb is the inspiration for the “thinking” of Ayman al Zawahiri.

There’s a lot going on here with Reverend Wright and all of America’s black preachers of hate that isn’t completely visible on the surface.

Mar 19, 2008 - 7:00 pm 112. Mister Snitch!:

“Barack, this is about a pathological minister whose uncontrolled anger wounds his own people and keeps them down.”

Well, you’re right.

But you also know full well that he can’t change the guy. Fact is, he gave Wright as severe a dressing-down as anyone could give an associate. It was on TV. It’ll be on the Internet forever. That’s about as embarrassing a repudiation as someone can get.

Yet Wright will still go on spouting that same rhetoric. Not at that church, for sure. He’s retired from there. But he’ll speak, and people will support him.

Here in Hoboken, we have a mayor who was indicted. When he got out of jail, there were block parties for him. He’s a scumbag, but there’s a community that’s declared him a hero, for reasons that are ineradicable. His relationship to certain members of this community are very much like Wright’s with his church.

So I am very familiar with the ‘what do you do about it’ aspect of all this. And I have to say, Obama has done about as much as I could ask him to. Wright will go on being Wright, and our ex-Mayor will live out his days on the money he swindled, and the Feds never found, in his rent-controlled, HUD-underwritten home.

At the end of the day, in the affairs of men, there is a limit to what you can do. And that limit is to take responsibility for yourself, apologize for others when that is your responsibility, and move on.

But you’re right, that church is crippled by that minister. Would they be better off if Obama had left that church years ago? What if Obama supported some other preacher to wrest control of that ministry, and a bloody fight for power ensued? Or how about if Obama took matters into his own hands, and ripped the ministry in half, saving those he could from Wright? And what if the people in charge of this new half had the same failings as Wright did?

The Bible actually contains guidelines for problem preachers, but at the end of the day it stresses unity above all. The solution offered is something that, frankly, sickens people. We are told to love the flawed. We are told that someone like Wright, who is an embarrassment, should be made less visible. But we do not know who in that church would have replaced him (though he IS in fact being replaced right now, so I guess we will find out). Maybe the church is full of Wrights, or maybe those who are more able are simply unwilling.

Few people WILL lead a church, you know. The pay is lousy, unless you’re crooked. The people will treat you as if you were their slave. They expect 24/7 access into your personal life. They will ask for favors. They will complain about the other parishioners. In fact – it’s exactly like running for office. Will you run for office, Mr. Simon? Of course not. That’s crazy. Well, now you know how churches wind up with guys like Wright. It’s one of those jobs damned few people want.

You’re right, though, Mr. Simon. That church does its members a disservice in many ways. I have seen too many like it.

But what, exactly, was Obama to do that would have left them in a better place? Leave, and join a flawless black church? All right, you’ll concede there is none. A “better” church, then? All right. When he leaves, though, are those people he left behind better off? Imagine what a voice of reason Obama must have been in that ministry over the years. Now, take that away from them. Imagine the far more radical church that results.

If there is a step by step answer to addressing these difficult problems, please offer them up. This is not the only dysfunctional social situation in the world. There are plenty of problem preachers, plenty of dysfunctional communities. They all need that magic touch, and I have no idea what it is. It’s enough for me – hell, it’s more than enough – that I should be responsible for my own actions.

I cannot ask of any man that he make those people around him perfect. I CAN ask, and pray, that a US President have some ability to do the best he can with what he is given. Our leadership in this world is pretty terrible. We cannot ask the next President to fix all that s wrong with this bitter, divided world. We can only ask him to please keep it from tearing itself apart. A man who can find common ground with both Wright and people like you and me, who would be appalled by Wright, might be a good choice for the job.

Mar 19, 2008 - 8:10 pm 113. joan:

Bearster :

“In his “apology” speech, Obama used the term “America’s original sin.” I think he is a religious man; he didn’t use that as a clever and witty way to say slavery was legal at the time of the founding of America.

I think he meant it in the biblical sense: we all share the sin of Eve disobeying God. White people today all share the guilt of slavery, and we can never expiate this guilt.”

Very interesting observation. I also think that much of what he said did come from his heart. I would not have characterized Obama’s speech as an apology. I think that those who have observed that in order to gain elected office, it was necessary for Obama to be in the right church, to prove his “black credentials,” are probably correct.

As to the statement that “white people today all share the guilt of slavery, and we can never expiate this guilt,” Obama glossed over reality, which is that this particular original sin was punished and paid for in blood. White American blood, as well as the brave black soldiers who fought for the Union.

The Civil War left carnage greater than all other U.S. wars, combined. Abraham Lincoln was ultimately haunted by the belief that the scourge of the Civil War was God’s just expiation for the terrible stain of slavery. “He hath loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword,” once had actual meaning, crystal clear to people who paid in blood to end slavery.

Folks will not want to hear this, and most are more politically savvy than I am, but nonetheless: I think Obama does love America, and would try to serve according to his lights. Also, in an after-speech interview with FOX the man was sad, just genuinely sad.

Mar 19, 2008 - 8:47 pm 114. A_Nonny_Mouse:

I absolutely agree with Bill Whittle (thank you, sir, for your May 2007 article on “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” and our tit-for-tat society) that this is not a man I would trust in the White House.
I also agree with tanstaafl: just how much of this curse-America-first preachifying is going on that we don’t know about? What will it do to our country? Guess I have to look into Black Liberation Theology. The reminder that hateful words have power (re that skank Qutb & what evil his writings have brought into the world) was also valid.

I disagree with Andrew, who said “… Just because “black” and “white” are opposite colors doesn’t mean you can construct an analogy by switching the two around … in reality, we need to consider historical context… only caring about an ideal rarely yields practical results.” I had thought Brown vs Board of Education and the civil rights movement came about PRECISELY because our Constitution holds to the ideal that “all men are created equal”. And YES, this DOES mean that you can switch “black” for “white” to test what is equality and what is preferential and what is discriminatory.

My summary: Barack Obama’s speech essentially said blacks have grievances, whites have grievances, ignore my racist minister, and lets talk about how whites can expiate that “original sin” of slavery.

Mar 20, 2008 - 12:23 am 115. xenos:

Indeed, what did you do it for?

You must have been familiar with, say, Douglass’ “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” before you sacrificed a few weeks of your youth for political tourism. If you cringe at black folks being free to dislike you, well, that puts the lie to your great sacrifices.

Mar 20, 2008 - 2:32 am 116. Peter Nielson:

I know this might be a little late, but what’s the difference between Phelps (WBC) and Wright (Trinity)? One hates gays and the other hates whites? One is reviled by everyone and the other is tolerated? Whatever happened to 1 John 2:9, or do we just ignore that part of scripture, especially (some of) our pastors?

-Peter

Mar 20, 2008 - 7:16 am 117. Mars vs Hollywood:

If you cringe at black folks being free to dislike you, well, that puts the lie to your great sacrifices.

Oh, horse pockey. If you think the civil rights movement was all about “black folks being free to dislike” Roger, then I don’t know what to tell you.

But this guy might.

Mar 20, 2008 - 8:50 am 118. ec1009:

Larry :

Strom Thurmond wasn’t violent either, but praising him cost Trent Lott his job. I think all most people want is a consistent set of rules.

Mar 18, 2008 04:57 PM

If Wright were a liberal icon, which he of course is not, a consistent rule in the PJ Media view I suppose would be the destruction of the political careers of anyone who had shown any respect for the old racist.

Most people do want consistent rules. Most people are not Republicans. Republicans don’t believe in rules.

Mar 20, 2008 - 9:02 am 119. ec1009:

urthshu :

Rev. Wright is actually worse than any mullah.

They’ll shout “Death to America!” – that’s bad, sure, but its death, not a call for the entire nation to burn in Hell for all eternity.

Mar 19, 2008 04:48 AM

I was going to ask urthshu why he lies and hates America but why bother. My previous posts did not get past moderation. “YOU PEOPLE” are hopeless. By “you people” I of course mean “GUTLESS COWARDS”.

Mar 20, 2008 - 9:26 am 120. Proud Atheist:

“I know this might be a little late, but what’s the difference between Phelps (WBC) and Wright (Trinity)? One hates gays and the other hates whites? One is reviled by everyone and the other is tolerated? Whatever happened to 1 John 2:9, or do we just ignore that part of scripture, especially (some of) our pastors?”

What’s wrong with despising both? I do. But I don’t see much equivalence between McCain’s (tangential at best) relationship with these evangelical creeps and Obama’s embrace of Wright who was his mentor and married him.

Mar 20, 2008 - 10:11 am 121. Toonces:

Why would Michelle’s going to PRIVATE universities on scholarships predispose her to not hating America?

Mar 20, 2008 - 10:27 am 122. Larry:

xenos – let’s turn that question around on you: why is your prerogative to hate so important to you? What’s the downside to restraining yourself not to hate?

I don’t get this righteous hatred stuff.

Mar 20, 2008 - 12:07 pm 123. Brendan:

Well, 1966 and age 22 was very late to come to the civil rights movement, and ‘idolizing’ stokely and other unpleasant black ‘leaders’ does not earn you the brownie (excuse, please) points you must be looking for.
Nothing Rev. Wright said compares in outrageous lunacy to the tales of resurrection of the body, or the need to separate meat and dairy, or the horrendous stuff so many nuns and christian brothers have been teaching school children for decades, or the other claptrap people in wright’s and other religious houses sit through each week. and, when these spiritual figures stray outside their field, they so frequently go even further into nonsense. it is a rare reverend or rabbi or imam indeed who can ing to tackle issues as tough as race–MLK Jr. of course being a remarkable exception, and there have been others, but not many.

But no, people do not quit these silly pastors or teachers, their ignorant rants aside. they go to their churches or shules or madrassas mostly ’cause everyone else they know does, or because their spouses or parents insist, or for fellowship, or for a hundred other reasons that have nothing to do with the teachings of the fellow (almost always a fellow) up front.

obama no better and no worse. clinton’s ridiculous bible fellowship and mcCain’s Hagggee fascination are just somewhat less bizarre to many because they come from a more familiar side of the racial divide.

this is a tempest in a teapot. Screw Wright, and also all the ignoramuses that use his idiocy as an excuse to avoid facing the issues Obama raised and others have done before him. Race cuts deep in this society. look deep inside.

Mar 26, 2008 - 4:36 pm 124. Rosie:

Obama’s parentage is old news and most Americans are clearly over the race thing. Just watch American Idol to see how many mixed race families are out there. Obama and his pastor need a new shtick.

Mar 27, 2008 - 3:31 pm 125. Ed Wallis:

Seek help, Brendan. Your moral relativism has been refuted in a number of posts above.

1 = a number
2 = a number
therefore 1 = 2
yah. uh huh.

Mar 27, 2008 - 3:38 pm 126. Brendan:

oh, and i forgot to add how offensive and smug i find it to have called this a tribute to Goodman.

My post included no particular claim that morals are or should be chosen ‘relativistically’ which i would have trouble even understanding. But i did write and meant that Wright’s awful pronouncements are not nearly the craziest things, or not the only crazy and obnoxious things,people hear from the pulpit each week. And, people sit there, and come back each week. and no, they don’t argue with their pastors or rebbes about the various things they don’t agree with–I wrote that Obama is no better nor worse in this regard. i lumped him in with all the other sheep who don’t challenge these idiot leaders. i don’t respect him for it, nor you for being so imperfectly literate as to have read in my post only what you came to it already thinking.
i did go on to say that i thought the wright controversy small change compared to the deep and terrible issues we have with race. that is a comparison of evils, and therefore in the most literal sense it is ‘relativistic,’ but only in a way i am sure you preach and practice, too: we believe some sins or errors worse than others.
I find Wright disgusting, but i find our ability to self-delude, to evade and attempt escape from the issues of racism and bigotry (and yes, this certainly includes anti-semitism and homophobia)to be more damaging to our country. And i did find Obama’s speech on these issues to have advanced this discussion. and your insults not to have done.

Mar 27, 2008 - 6:57 pm 127. Brendan:

Oy, this is getting obsessive, but let me add still one more thing.
for those who think Americans are ‘over’ race, i submit that one who does not agree at all is Secretary of State Rice: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/FOREIGN/
746301768/1
“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national “birth defect” that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country’s very founding.’…..she goes on, giving a considered and valuable view that is heartfelt but still ‘politic’ Something like Obama’s approach, even if not so obviously tied to a campaign objective.

We have a substantial way to go, yes, but there are many who are striving to make it possible to more forward. recognizing that we have a problem is not (or does not need to be) defeatist. it can be a great contribution, a necessary step on the way to some resolution.

Mar 28, 2008 - 7:20 am 128. Russell J Coller Jr:

The echo-chamber glitterati and scribblatti are in for the shock of a lifetime. They think the civil war can be put in a precious little box and labeled ‘1861-1865.’ HUGE mistake. Semper Eadem.
If the good Junior Senator from Illinois wants to rise above certain unpleasantness, he needs to try harder & not throw his granny under the bus. Speaking of buses, he should try riding one through a rough neighborhood with his sour-puss wife in Washington DC & see if the formidable Mrs ‘proud to be American’ Obama holds on to her purse a li’l tighter.
(for obvious reasons, she absolutely will go into survival mode.)
We ALL fear chaotic, ill behaved urban monsters -regardless of skin color or previous condition of ancestral servitude.
Having encouraged the Obamas to vary their commuting habits, they should also try it without being surrounded by cops with concealed-carry privileges. That takes guts… like most people of creeds and colors who brave Washington, DC’s most horrific ‘hoods.

Mar 31, 2008 - 8:30 am 129. Russell J Coller Jr:

Also, what was the old fairie-tale / parable of power…?
“The Emperor in not wearing any Kente-cloth…?” bummer.

Mar 31, 2008 - 8:45 am 130. Bernardo:

After reading the above comments, it sure doesn’t seem as though Sen. Obama has eased any racial tensions, but instead, has stirred them up and left them to boil over.

If his ineptness in handling the Rev. Wright situation is any indication of his future performance in dealing with the more complex problems of the Presidency, we could be in real trouble.

Apr 2, 2008 - 10:16 am 131. Judy R:

Arthur, I think you are right. Barack and his minister HAVE set civil rights back 25 years. He hasn’t just divided the party, he has divided the nation along racial lines–again.

Apr 13, 2008 - 10:21 am 132. Brendan:

These last comments remind us why politicians (and others) so rarely discuss ‘touchy’ subjects: they can open the discussion but of course not resolve it in one speech or even in one long campaign, so they get blamed for the tensions it arouses as if speaking about the problem was CAUSING the problem.

No. we had many and deep racial tensions way before Obama spoke. the idea that they aren’t there as long as no one mentions them is childish–psychologist call it one version of magical thinking (if we just don’t look under the bed the monster isn’t there).
i agree that he sure didn’t ‘ease’ racial tensions, but i don’t think he claimed that was the purpose of that speech or any one speech. the purpose was 1. to get himself out of the hole his Wright connection had landed him in, and 2. to use the occasion to ‘get into it’–to go ahead and start a conversation on these horrible, difficult subjects, knowing full well that he would not come out a winner on every item, or with every listener.

so, discuss away–that is the healthy result of his speech, and his contribution to–well, me and you–that he will get no thanks for, but that has great value nonetheless.

i can’t wait to see what the self-satisfied ‘experts’ here will say about his more recent upsetting speech on how bitter 30 or 40 years of abandonment have left small town working class Americans. i guess the tendency here will be to deny that this bitterness is there, and to ‘blame’ him for mentioning it.
but it is there, and it had better be addressed, and anyone who has spent time in the rust belt–yes, PA is at the belt-buckle of the rust belt–will know what he’s talking about, and will not think the bitterness results from his mentioning it.

obama is no saint, and not yet impressively presidential, but he is a remarkable politician in America for saying what so many have been choosing not to hear for so long.

Apr 13, 2008 - 6:47 pm 133. More Reactions to Obama’s Racism in America Speech « AmeriCAN-DO Attitude:

[...] L. Simon at Pajamas Media: Barack, your speech was [...]

Mar 21, 2009 - 5:57 pm