Pajamas Media

Can Obama Overcome the ‘Wright Stuff?’

Barack Obama never wanted to run for president as "the black candidate." But now, he doesn't have a choice.

March 24, 2008 - by Bill Bradley

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“I charge the the white man.” This incendiary speech, opening the film Malcolm X and culminating with a burning American flag resolving into the letter, encapsulates the anger and fear surrounding Barack Obama’s association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

By Bill Bradley

The racial politics swirling around Barack Obama will undoubtedly dominate the week ahead in presidential politics. In fact, they may well dominate much of the next seven-odd months. It is not only about race, either. The questions yet unanswered by his speech last Tuesday in Philadelphia are at least as much about patriotism.

John McCain, returned from his tour of the Middle East and Europe, is in California for three days this week to raise badly needed funds and to stake a longshot claim to the Golden State in the general election. On Wednesday morning at the Bonanventure Hotel in Los Angeles, he delivers a major address on national security and geopolitical matters, addressing what he learned in Iraq and the other nations he toured last week.

Notwithstanding the firestorm of controversy over the past comments of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and some consequent teetering in the polls, Obama had a good week last week. For one thing, it became apparent that he had far more cash on hand at the end of February than rival Hillary Clinton, not to mention John McCain, whose best month of fundraising doesn’t match Obama’s best week.
Obama’s fundraising machine, centered on the Internet, has been humming along the whole time.

In addition, Hillary’s fading hopes for the nomination took a major hit when it became apparent that there would be no do-over primaries in Florida or Michigan, two states which she had previously claimed victory notwithstanding the fact that she’d earlier agreed with the Democratic Party’s decision not to recognize their rogue primaries in which no one campaigned. The hurdles to hastily organized primaries at the tail end of the season in June were simply too high, and Clinton forces would have had to block independents who participated in the real Republican primary — largely on behalf of McCain — from voting in a real Democratic primary.

By week’s end, it was apparent that Clinton almost certainly could not catch Obama in delegates won in the primaries and caucuses or in the popular vote. The media counts, incidentally, which have Obama over 700,000 votes ahead of Clinton, do not include, oddly, votes cast in the caucuses. Most of those caucuses have had record turnouts, making them easily the equivalent of smaller primary elections. Include them in the popular vote, as they should be, and Obama’s lead is well over a million votes.

And now the bad news. Obama got a good start on addressing his Jeremiah Wright last week. But only a start.

As I wrote in real time as the Jeremiah Wright firestorm broke 10 days ago, it was a clearly survivable situation. When Obama gave his speech on race in America and the Jeremiah Wright controversy six days ago, he solved much of his problem with regard to the Democratic nomination fight.

Polls show that his speech worked, especially with Democratic voters, and largely with independent voters.

An even more recent poll for CBS News showed, as does the Rasmussen poll, that most Americans think highly of Obama’s speech. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/MARB-ObamaCallback.pdf

Nevertheless, Barack Obama’s path to the White House has certainly gotten longer and more perilous.

Obama is unlikely to become president unless he can explain Malcolm X (Wright’s most outrageous statements are a stand-in for what he represented), the anger that produced him, and the preposterous statements that not infrequently emanate from the leadership of his church and other black churches.

He can’t simply float along as the easy post-racial figure, a man Americans can vote for as a salve for the issue of race in America.

This may have been inevitable. And it certainly became inevitable when he decided not to be a Hawaiian, or a nice Ivy League lawyer, but a black Chicago politician.

Obama made a choice. He was born and in large measure raised in Hawaii, America’s polyglot paradise in the Pacific, a place where questions of racial background can become so complex as to be irrelevant. But after a glittering Ivy League debut, he decided to enter politics, not as a multi-racial, post-racial figure in Hawaii or California — where he spent two years attending Occidental College — but in a 76% black state senate district in Chicago.

Why he decided to embrace his blackness as a very young man may be a matter more for the psychologically inclined than the politically inclined. In any event, it is what he did.

As a man who was neither a movie star nor super-rich, Obama needed a base for his rise. As he is a politician and not a deity, he is by nature an opportunist. (All politicians are opportunists. The question is the degree of egregiousness.) A big part of his opportunity was being a member of what is arguably the leading black church in Chicago.

For a man with a missing father, Trinity United Church of Christ and the Rev. Wright played a key role in Obama’s life. Mothered by a white woman and raised in large measure by white grandparents, Obama sought what he did not have in his life as a biracial boy. A black family. The black church in Chicago became a stand-in for that. And Wright, a complex man who, by most accounts, has done some serious good in Chicago to balance his now well-publicized ranting, became in Obama’s own recent words, an “uncle.”

The church also answered the formerly frequently posed question about Obama. Is he “black enough?”

But as a result of this embrace — and Obama notably refused to disown Wright even as he renounced his now infamous comments — Obama still has serious questions to answer.

He has to explain to America — and in particular, to key voting groups such as the Scot-Irish who make up much of the working class and patriotically-oriented in the country — the anger that produced such irrational notions as the US government inventing AIDS to destroy the black people, or the idea that the US may have deserved 9/11. And why men such as Wright, whose generation grew up with a frequently rugged racism directed toward them and developed within them, have a chip on their shoulder today.

This task certainly not what Obama wanted to take on when he launched his candidacy on a wave of high-flown, impressively-delivered rhetoric, floating over the historic divisions of America on a cloud of post-racialism.

But it is what he must do now. He didn’t intend to run as “the black candidate” but as a candidate who happened to be black. But being black, or at least, “black enough,” as it turns out, was at least in part a choice for Obama. And as a result of that choice, he rose in Chicago enough to become a United States senator. And as a result of being a senator, he has enough stature to wage this campaign.

As a result, this conversation about race will continue throughout the campaign, together with a conversation about patriotism. “God damn America” is not a concept that goes down well with most voters.

This may be even more of an imperative for Obama than the racial issue, though the two are joined.

What is his idea of America? How is he an American patriot in a time of war?

What can he do to convince the Scots-Irish American voter that he is enough of a patriot to take on the uber-patriot, John McCain, a man who does not have to wave the flag because his very presence waves the flag?

In many respects, Obama represents an emerging America: multi-racial, with an internationalist perspective. But he will not represent any America, at least as president, until he demonstrates that he represents the enduring America.

37 Comments

A. N. Pierson:

The roots of Obama’s problem were revealed in his vaunted speech. The moral equivalence between Wright’s public racist sputum and Obama’s own grandmother’s private words was outrageous (and a despicable treatment of his own grandmother - what a horrible man he must be) and will come back to haunt the candidate until November. Obama is over.

Mar 24, 2008 - 7:21 am jb:

I blame the media for running sound bites which distort Wright’s message. I agree with Dan Rather that TV news is all about ratings.

It would have much more ethical if they had presented an extended version of Wright’s message in order to really inform the public. Last night CNN Weekend FINALLY played an expanded version of the speech which made perfectly good sense. Maybe we have been punk’ed by the media.

Mar 24, 2008 - 8:04 am vwcat:

The media has been itching to put Obama in the ‘black candidate’ box since S. Carolina. They are obsessed with it.

With the Wright story, which by all sense, would have been at most a 2 day story if not for the media’s obsession over Obama’s race.

Instead, to this day, they are still obsessing over it. They never talk about Obama, the person. It’s all about Obama the AA.

Most people would have moved on and forgotten about it except in an effort to keep the race going and the drama hyped, they have boxed Obama in and keep the thing going continuously for almost 2 weeks now.

Mar 24, 2008 - 8:41 am Rhonda:

He absolutely can and will. Why should Obama be held to a different standard than the one we hold all of the other candidates to? Have you sought out all the remarks made by John Hagee who endorsed McCain? McCain has said he is a friend of his and he values his support, though he does not agree with his anti-semetic, etc. comments. Why is it that Obama is held responsible for someone else’s comments and not the rest of the candidates? If Cindy McCain were addicted to drugs in the past, would that be John McCain’s fault because he’s her husband and thereby guilty by association? If Hillary Clinton’s husband had an affair, does that make her an adulterer? Again, guilt by association? That’s ridiculous. The people who are blowing this out of proportion are hoping that others will focus on this and not the issues because nobody left in this race can beat Obama in a head to head matchup focused on the issues. He’s a brilliant Harvard graduate who deserves our support, no matter what race he is.

Mar 24, 2008 - 8:59 am Rhonda:

Yes, John McCain is doing a great job trying to appear presidential. The only problem is that he doesn’t have his facts straight. In a general election, he will not hold up well in a debate with Barack Obama. Trust me, when people hear how eloquent this man is and the future plans that he has for this country, they will discover that all of this race bating has been just that. There’s no real outrage here, unless people are just being hypocritical. If you have sat quietly by and someone made a racist remark and didn’t immediately denounce and reject them, you are being hypocritical about this. Racist comments are never appropriate, no matter who makes them or in what setting. If you have listened, and not responded, you are guilty. Don’t try and hold Obama to a higher standard than the one to which you hold yourself.

Mar 24, 2008 - 9:04 am Dark Helmet:

Why is it that a man who is as much one as the other allowed to run as only the half that he chooses?

obama is no more black than he is white.

The rev wrights remarks are just plain old racism. So what. This country was founded on racism. It is a painful pimple on the face of all America that has to be dealt with by each and every person.

The only thing that is more alarming to me than wrights calling for the damning of this great nation, is the lack of concern that he attacks America, as though somehow this was less evil than hating white people.

Let me take you back to Sept 11, 2001. There were no blacks or whites, remember? Only Americans. So I ask you, each of you, what is more important here?

An angry old black man still ticked off about wrongs of past or a community leader who currently and actively hates this nation?

We can get past being racist, we always have.

But without the unity of one country, we are done.

Think about it.

Mar 24, 2008 - 9:33 am Marc:

Comparing a wife and a pastor is illogical. A pastor, in most cases, espouses philosophical and spiritual advice on a weekly and private basis. One can listen to this advice, and incorporate it into their lives or not. This relationship is based upon what the pastor can offer; guidance, advice, direction. This is a matter of choice. No one put a gun to Obama’s head and said, you need to follow this message. He did so willingly. He neither took no oath before God and his family to be married to this pastor for the rest of his life either. Standing by your wife and standing by your pastor are two separate things. Furthermore, to choose the message that this pastor is preaching to be the cornerstone of what your children will believe in is egregious. I don’t care what context the man was using “God Damn America” in, I think it is tantamount to burning the flag. Who knows what he said in private, or on Sunday’s without video. Obama prescribed to this ideology, for twenty years. It is simply unacceptable. No amount of white guilt will delude me into believing this man, and especially not to trust him to hold the highest office in the land.

Mar 24, 2008 - 9:53 am mishu:

Wow, the replies to this post are quite nostalgic. I haven’t seen this type of a reaction since PJ media posted about Ron Paul’s newsletters. I guess, to Rhonda, that situation wouldn’t be equivalent.

Mar 24, 2008 - 10:14 am liamascorcaigh:

We took Obama at his own evaluation but now of course we all know better. We have, after all, attended Jeremiah Wright’s seminar: “Far Left Anti-Americanism - The Tell-Tale Symptoms”. The vanishing lapel pin, the wife’s grudging remarks, the crotch cradling salute to the Flag all now make sense because we don’t now feel the need to explain them away. They fit into a pattern so saddening, so dismaying, so outrageously at odds with the image Obama sought to foist on us that it will take some time for the American people to come to grips with this gut-wrenching truth:

The only thing that Barack Obama likes about the America we love is the Presidency.

For further extensive analysis go to
http://chrismatthewsotherleg.blogspot.com/

Mar 24, 2008 - 10:28 am liamascorcaigh:

The only thing that Barack Obama likes about the America we love is the Presidency.

For further extensive analysis go to
http://chrismatthewsotherleg.blogspot.com/

Mar 24, 2008 - 10:29 am John the Dennis Miller Libertarian:

Rhonda said: Don’t try and hold Obama to a higher standard than the one to which you hold yourself.

You bet I will. He wants to be my president? I’ll hold him to any standard I choose.

Mar 24, 2008 - 12:17 pm Ed Wallis:

The man who claims to be a “uniter” vaunted:

Victimology-as-Virtue
You-Owe-Us pandering

in his speech. It was insulting and arrogant, in particular to American whites:

His “typical white person” radio remark makes him an unacceptable candidate for any white person who has a scintilla of self-respect, as well as for any voter who abhors racial - even loosely suggested - slurs (SEE: macaca).

The man who claims to be the “post-racial” candidate vaunted the hypothesis:

Whites-Are-Born-Into-The-Sin-Of-Slavery

and suggested that the only way to buy “racial indulgences” (from Pope NObama I ?!) was to fund ever more trillions into programs for blacks only.

By the way, you forgot to mention that, in the process, he said our Constitution is stained.

That doesn’t sit well with me - metaphorically or otherwise.

Mar 24, 2008 - 1:22 pm Cato:

Putting aside the rethorical speeches of Obama, fit only to excite old lesbians, one wonders why this guy wants to be president. I find no better explanation than he is willing to get to Oval Office to enjoy some marijuana sitting at the presidential table.

Mar 24, 2008 - 1:59 pm Patricia:

Wright was not raised in poverty in some ghetto. He comes from an upper class family. His father was a Baptist preacher. Someone in the congregation said that the congregants generally considered Jeremiah, Jr. to be a juvenile delinquent. I consider him to be a racist.

Mar 24, 2008 - 2:22 pm Ed Wallis:

Rhonda, I only just now read both of your posts. It seems you want to “equate” (some call it “moral relativism”) the Wright-Obama relationship with some McCain-Hagee or you-and-someone-making-a-racist-remark.

Point 1. Ask yourself if McCain has written a book, dedicated to Hagee, using part of a sermon of his as the title.

Ask yourself if McCain calls Hagee his “mentor.”

Ask yourself if McCain consults Hagee on each important piece of legislation before voting.

Ask yourself if McCain brought his child to hear year after year of racist, anti-American hate speech.

Ask yourself if McCain had his child baptized by Hagee.

Ask yourself if McCain let Hagee marry him and his wife.

Ask yourself if McCain attended Hagee’s church for 20 years, claiming in his own autobiography, “to gain street cred.”

You’re wrong, Rhonda.

Point 2. Wrong again, Rhonda. On your “if-you-hear-anyone-making a racist-remark” accusation, “John the DML” speaks well when he mentions that NObama is running for the presidency.

Obama makes no excuses and has earned no excuse or pardon from this voter.

Mar 24, 2008 - 2:51 pm Ed Wallis:

JB + VWCAT: It certainly might be interesting to hear more of Reverend Wright. I think, however, both of you may be disappointed.

In such a case, the newly released vile anti-American and racist statements by Wright will be packed in amongst other rhetoric…but: packing filth such as “U.S. of KKK-A!” or “God DAMN America!” does not make it any less repulsive or less worthy of utter rejection.

“Oh, how EVIL are those who use this association to hurt Obama!” you both claim. Crocodile tears, m’dears: NObama freely chose his bigotted “partner” in spirit for 20 years, he can very well live with the consequences of his choice.

After all, he is running for the Presidency, a position in which the incumbent will be making profoundly significant decisions. This charlatan is not my choice.

Mar 24, 2008 - 3:15 pm Steve:

Testing

Mar 24, 2008 - 6:24 pm Rick Lockridge:

Obama: you want us to believe you sat there listening to Wright all those years but you never inhaled.

That’s tired. We’ve all been down that road, and too recently.

Obama’s the smartest candidate, the most charismatic; a natural leader. But Americans are sick of racial tension. Race is one of those issues that, like national security, is really too important to lie about.

Candidates: we want you to tell us something we can believe, not something that has such a jarring note of dissonance about it that we can’t possibly regard you as candid and truthful. (Hillary: where do I even START with you? But this isn’t about you, it’s about Obama).

Obama: your telling us that you ONLY JUST NOW REALIZE this punk-ass racist thug pastor is “flawed” is like me only just now realizing that Atlanta, the city I’ve lived in for 15 years, is hot in the summer. If true, I’m an idiot. If false, I’m a liar. Either way, I’m not a good pick for President of the United States.

This slimeball Wright did not lead honorably and well for all of those years and then, on the eve of his retirement, suddenly decide we whites are the Antichrist. (The YouTube videos prove that).

And yet, that is what you are asking us to believe? That you never knew his real leanings? Come on. I’ve BEEN to church. What DON’T you know about your pastor, after a year or so of sitting in his pews?

I find this runaround more offensive than anything else. I’d be a lot more of an Obama fan right now if he’d just told us the truth: look, Sunday church for many of us is cathartic; we get a chance to say things to each other that we’d never say in mixed company; we get to vent a little. Most white people don’t ever see that side of our culture, even though my church has a number of white members. I know this might be hard for some of you to understand, but when I go to this church and hear these things, I don’t get angry and get all revolutionary; rather, it calms me down and it gets me thinking. That’s why I go. Oh, and plus it’s a really big social deal in our culture.

See, Obama, if you’d just said something like that, I’d be on your website right now donating money instead of writing this sad little complaint about your little good-pastor-gone-wrong two-step. I’d be looking to volunteer for your campaign. I’d be putting your signs in my yard. I’d be cutting my grass so your sign would stand out even more. I’m dead serious.

Here’s another awful little truth that nobody’s talking about (well, except on this Blog, to its credit), so I will: much of white America is just looking for an excuse to vote against you without feeling guilty. And I think you’ve just given those people one. And maybe you’ve given me one, although I’m not writing you off yet.

And again, it’s not because I think you’re racist; I emphatically believe you are NOT racist. It’s because you think I’m going to buy the “I was there, but I didn’t really listen” story.
If we’re going to talk about race, let’s really talk about race. And let’s not pretend that there aren’t black pastors in black churches all over Atlanta, for example, who don’t let a little payback creep into their sermons. And let’s not pretend there aren’t a million white rednecks in Georgia who use the “N” word whenever they’re sure no blacks are within earshot.

As Bill Cosby says, let’s not hide our dirty laundry; let’s wash it. (And that goes for the still-discouragingly-large racist segment of white America, too).

When we Obama fans talk about Jeremiah Wright, we are walking Cosby’s talk.

Let’s not hide this. Let’s wash it out.

Note to Obama–get Cosby on speed dial. Any black man who can win over white America on prime time TV for a decade is a force. You could learn a few things from him.

Listen, Senator. I want to vote for you. But you have to REALLY be honest about race–it’s just too big a problem for any dissembling and equivocating.

I have to know that you will be a LOT quicker next time to recognize the Jeremiah Wrights of the world, white and black, for who they are–and much, MUCH quicker to disavow them. Can you give me that assurance?

As a postscript: I once worked next to a guy who I really admired, mostly because he made a lot of money and carried himself with great swagger and confidence. Then one day he was showing me his gorgeous new SUV, and I remarked on how classy it was, and he told me, “yeah, I got the dealer to take all the ‘n@@@er s##t (fancy gold trim) off of it.”

I never spoke to him again. Not even once.

Sometimes you have to ditch a guy if you find out he’s not the kind of guy you really want as a friend.

It could be someone you thought you admired. It could even be your pastor.

Mar 24, 2008 - 9:25 pm Lily S.:

You wirte very beautifully and this is a wonderful piece!

Lily S.
Zrii For Life!
http://zrii-for-life.blogspot.com/

Mar 24, 2008 - 9:55 pm Bill Bradley:

Fabulous.

Mar 25, 2008 - 1:16 am Jim Rockford:

Mr. Bradley surely you see that Barack Hussein Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party, and the Party will lose both the Presidency and the House in November?

Rev. God Damn America is not going away. I’m sure his DVDs with all his sermons contain worse, and we’ll have lots of greatest hits videos showing up on YouTube and other sites. We’ll have viral videos like Obama Girls, but instead it will be something equally as vile and Sen. Obama nodding along in agreement in the Church. I’m sure he was caught on camera for some of it. It just won’t be one thing. But a hundred things, all in this vein.

You also understand the implications, broader and more politically. Blacks, all Blacks will be considered to believe the things Rev. God Damn America says on a regular basis. Other races will not trust them at all. This episode ENDS any hope for a Black candidate to be seriously considered by Whites and other races. Obama and all other significant Black leaders have explained and justified Rev. God Damn America. Those who are not Black have taken their measure and drawn their conclusions. That hatred of America, belief that the CIA created AIDS to kill the Black Man, belief that 9/11 was something America had coming, and more are what most Blacks believe.

Next, since Democrats are the home of Blacks politically, many if not most Democrats believe these things too or don’t disagree with them. It’s a massive shift and support for this can be found in Code Pink, ANSWER, Moveon etc. Again you’ll see Viral Videos making this point. Individuals now can do what it took Lee Atwater and a professional production team in 1988 to do. The charge is at least partly true so it will stick.

Expect Whites to abandon Democrats in most places outside California, New York, and the coastal metropolises. The Democratic Party will likely in the future be rich white yuppies, various groups like Moveon, ANSWER, Code Pink, and Blacks. Plus some Latinos. The Latino-Black community struggles will prevent Dems from grabbing Latinos even with opposition to illegal immigration and open borders in the Republican Party. Dems are “the Black Party” for better or worse.

Finally, you can expect Whites to want Affirmative Action for themselves. There are fewer Whites so the cost of traditional AA is spread over fewer people and it’s more painful. In Malaysia, the majority population is guaranteed certain set-asides for jobs, government positions, etc. If our post-racial society is merely who can use the most raw political power (as Rev. God Damn America suggests) then Whites can and will do that too. Obama and Rev. God Damn America overestimate White Guilt. Certainly rich white yuppies at NPR, PBS, the NYT etc. all feel that. But not the guy hard-pressed in a recession with rising prices, just trying to make his mortgage payment and pay his bills.

If anything, a guarantee and AA shield the way Blacks do will look attractive to him. He’s not in the mood to cut whiny, wealthy candidates with more money and power than he’ll ever have any slack. Or feel guilty about something that happened 50 years ago. I’m shocked quotas and set-asides for whites are not already on the agenda. As a political pander it “locks in” tons of votes from the majority who are owed the political machine that delivers it.

I think the Democratic Party will survive. But it will be much smaller and niche player in politics. The way Apple Computer is in computers. Buzz and cachet. But not much market share. But that’s what the Party gets betting on an unvetted, newbie. With no record of winning votes in the middle. No, beating Alan Keyes doesn’t count.

Mar 25, 2008 - 1:52 am tgb1000:

The notion that “America deserved 911″ hardly originates in “black anger”. I first heard it from white evangelicals on TV and then from conservatives like Dinesh D’Souza. Is McCain going to be asked to explain that to America? Of course not. And as for Obama “enbracing” his blackness, what the hell else could he do? The moe I think about it, this editorial is beyond idiotic. But good luck with that “sending the MSM down the river” thing. Sounds like a money maker.

Mar 25, 2008 - 2:17 am Anonymous:

It’s very odd that the minute a man who was very close to Obama says something racist Obama’s enemies will lable him a racist (ignoring that him being a racist against whites would make him hate himself as much as he mus tthe love himself) but is quick to ignore McCain’s racist statements about Asians.

Is McCain racist against Asians, well judging by his own words, “I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.” he certainly seems to, yet this statement would seem odd coming from a man who has an Asian daughter. McCain is justified by himself and his supporters by saying it was aimed only at certain people or because he was the victim of daily torture and abuse (something not to be taken lightly I might add), but never the less disturbing that he would use a word so demeaning to the Asian community.

McCain’s comments show just how much anger the abuse and shame he endured as a POW caused him, and much like McCain Wright and many others like him in the black community are just responding to injustices they and their families have recieved for hundreds of years, often by people claiming to represent America.

Does this make them hate every white person? Thats unlikely, but it does show just what being put in a horrible situation can do to the morale and soul of someone who might otherwise be the modle for people to live by. Wright, his comments not with standing, has done a great deal to assit the black community of Chicago. Nor does the hardships faced by African Americans justify unfounded hatred.

As for the comments about Obama’s grandmother those are comments that are hard for many people to understand. From the perspective of a mixed person, while I cannot justify every comment he made about his granmother, it is hard for anyone who is of a different race from a paretn or grandparent, which is very difficult to deal with if that person has less than enlightened views on race. How does someone deal with percieved racism from their own family members, and the knowledge that they might not consider you worthy of any respect as a fellow human were it not for their blood relation to you. I personally feel his comment was a frustration that many people with a mixed heritage have: how does someone have ties to both cultures without not abandoning the other. Unfortunately in America more than any other country on Earth people are often almost by default expect to choose one race over the other, which is why Obama may feel some of those feelings towards his grandmother, and why he felt it necessary to at times ignore Wrights message to in a way prove himself.

Quote: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/hongop.shtml

Mar 25, 2008 - 3:50 am marine 43:

jb, how can you breathe, with all that sand in your mouth? “The media distorted Wrights speach?” You have got to be kidding! People like you scare the hell out of me! The real question is will the demoncats, be able to get past their racism to vote this guy in! We all know that they are the ones who always see color and social placement first. Just look at how they treat condi, and any other black conservative! It’s okay to be black as long as you stay on the liberal plantation. Obama like most liberals, can’t survive in an age of recording devices and the internet. They just say too many stupid things( grandma was a typical white woman. etc….) He is TOAST.

Mar 25, 2008 - 4:35 am PA Voter:

It’s not the videos whether they are or are not in context that disturbs me the most but it’s:

1) Obama’s lying about not hearing any controversial words, then admitting to hearing one or two statements (after figuring out in his head that he may end up being shown in one or more of the videos);

2)Obama showed us he’s not a leader but a user–he could have talked to Rev Wright, he could have walked out of the pews, he could done so much in that community when he was a IL Senator but didn’t because he was tied in with Rezko.

3) Obama should have never subjected his children to racism and anti-Americanism rhetoric for his political gain–that’s immoral!

4) Lastly, why would the church move the defining points of it’s doctrine, “Black Value System”, to a more discrete location within their website over the past several weeks–now need to go to Live WebCasts to see a link to it. It’s the doctrine of this church… By moving it doesn’t take away his obvious belief in it for the past 20 or so years.

Mar 25, 2008 - 6:12 am Dark Helmet:

Like I said, you’re all more worried about racism than wright attacking America. This is why we’re doomed. God save America since none of you are interested in saving her.

Mar 25, 2008 - 6:54 am mwl:

This is a classic case of a main hoist by his own petard.

Obama joined Trinity to gain the support of that community in his quest for public office. But now that he’s trying to appeal to a wider audience than South Chicago, that association has become inconvenient.

Either way you look at it, Obama is lying to someone. Either he lied to us all last week when he claimed not to share Wright’s beliefs, or he lied by omission to the Trinity community by sitting quietly for 20 years without expressing his disagreement with Wright’s excesses.

So, how do you know what Obama really believes? How do you know what policies he would have as President? How could you ever trust a man who’s proven himself to be a liar?

Trinity is one piece in the larger puzzle of figuring out what Obama really believes, and the picture as a whole is rather disturbing. We have Obama’s refusal to salute the flag, his refusal to wear a flag pin, and his wife’s anti-American rhetoric. Overall, I see no reason to believe that Obama’s views differ significantly from those of his wife and pastor.

I’ve seen a lot of Obama supporters bring up Hagee’s endorsement of McCain as a counterpoint, but that doesn’t hold water with me. McCain hasn’t been married or had children baptized by Hagee. Hagee never worked for McCain’s campaign. The association is far more tenuous than Obama’s association with Wright, and that’s why Hagee’s controversial statements don’t stick to McCain the way Wright’s did to Obama.

If you want to pooh-pooh Wright’s wrongs and vote for Obama anyway, that’s your privilege. But don’t come whining to the rest of us when he turns out to be another Jimmy Carter.

Mar 25, 2008 - 9:33 am tanstaafl:

Yes, our Constitution is not stained as a function of this country’s history of slavery.

And a candidate for the President should, at the very least, be willing to wear a lapel pin of the American flag.

Looks and identity seeking both may have brought Obama to gravitate to the black side of his mulatto heritage. A need for an identity may have brought him to both Chicago southside politics and the church of the Reverend JWright.

And the bombastic JWright, the “uncle” may be the replacement father figure who was completely absent in Obama’s childhood.

Speaking of psychologizing.

Mar 25, 2008 - 10:30 am CB Baxter:

I took pretty careful notes during Obama’s speech. Since I’m a legal historian, I was shocked at the dissonance between his sterling linguistic abilities on one hand, and his ridiculous rendition of exaggerated and fabricated history on the other. He started out the speech by telling us that the Constitution was already in existence before the Declaration of Independence. Did no one notice that? Then he told a fabricated and exaggerated story about the supposed history of “legalized discrimination.” If he just wanted to say that many blacks of Wright’s age have been victims of great amounts of immoral discrimination and mistreatment, no one could quarrel with him. But much of what he said was essential to understanding Wright was rationalizing with a mixture of truth and fiction. He said, for example, that “legalized discrimination” and vestiges of school segregation have kept black people from accumulating wealth by excluding them from public employment. Hogwash. Blacks have been significantly OVER-represented in public employment in many major cities for decades. But it was also worth noting that he thinks PUBLIC employment should be the road to wealth accumulation. It’s hard to imagine that someone running for public office would say that, but he’s obviously courting only the votes of people who don’t pay taxes, and no one seems to have called him on it.

Mar 25, 2008 - 5:56 pm Sue:

(website mgr: remeber is not correct)

Sound bites, hold to same standard, put Wright in context, he didn’t want to run “black”. Wow. Talk about sound bytes! No, the media is in the “can” for this guy and Bubba made him “black” not the media. Listen to an entire Wright tape? Please people. What part of “Damn America or Amerikkka” does everyone not understand? I personally don’t give a damn what the pastor believes, but I do damn Obama for his hit on his Grandmother. For God’s sake, she took care of him when no one else cared or wanted to. “Typical black man”? Making nearly 1 million per year? If you do not wish to believe that this man actually goes along with this pastor then fine, do so, but don’t make me your scapegoat! Stand up and just say you support him and his pastor…but, if you have any small doubts, listen to what his wife has said these past few months; listen to what the parishnors themselves say and if you believe that Barack was never in the church when his pastor crapped on America over the course of twenty years, there is bridge in Booklyn I’d love to sell you. We need to grow up as a nation and stop this sissyfying nonsense.

Mar 25, 2008 - 6:32 pm Sue:

Sorry….Brooklyn….so maybe remeber is O.K.?

Mar 25, 2008 - 6:41 pm lBernardo:

For what supporters keep hyping as a “historic speech” by Senator Obama, I honestly cannot recall a single line of it — and I doubt many others can either. It was smooth and clever, but hardly memorable, much less historic.

OTOH, who can forget “God damn America?”

Mar 25, 2008 - 7:37 pm Sergio:

Everyone talks about Obama and I see no one ask the main question:
Who is this Omaba anyway?! Why media is NOT informing us WHO IS THE REAL Obama?!

•An IMPOSTER – the Savior of Black Americans to whom he has NOTHING in common but some skin Color from his FREE Kenyan father! His mom - FREE white woman!
A SUPER privileged kid - attending ONLY private Exclusive schools is HARDLY the “typical black American” story!! WHO has paid for ALL the Private Schools Hussein had attended? His “bad grandma” helped his single-mom to bring him up - just like poor people do – right?!
SO WHO PAID for his private and highly exclusive schools?

•A Muslim with “Historical Mission” – pretending that somewhere along his path he became Christian (even invented a black Christ) – and hot stuck in “Christianity ever since”. In fact Obama’s Chicago church is the American version of the Madrassas he left behind on foreign soil and Americans are asking him to walk away from Wright’s vipers’ nest!!! How NAÏVE!
•Barack Hussein Obama is for the “White House project” what Mohamed Atta was for 9/11.
•Osama – not Obama – used for his “9/11 Historic Mission” American airplanes, the American System, American people as Missiles and kill 3,000 Americans and brought $123 Billions loss in economy. The successful attack was not all that Islamic terrorists have for America!
•Osama said: “NEXT HIT will be GRANDIOSE - the entire world will be shocked –it will make 9/11 look like kids’ game”.
•THIS TIME Osama uses the American Voters to accomplish His Grandiose Mission!
America spends countless Billions for security in airports, ports etc. – while the inside/outside enemy work undisturbed just as they did with the 9/11 attacks.
•Osama said they will CHANGE the American flag on the White House with the Muslim Crescent flag. Osama sends messages to Americans – he doesn’t let us in dark but IS OUR IGNORANCE keeping us in dark.
Obama has his mantras for the American Voters who happily bark as laud as they can:
“HOPE” – we can divert their attention with the race issue;
“Yes We Can” – this one is self explanatory and
“CHANGE” - the American flag with the Muslim Crescent flag on the White House …. .
Meanwhile there is still use for the American flag. At the “Cut and Paste Historical” speech the Impostor was hiding among EIGHT HUGE American Flags and INSULTED America as only a TRUE HATERS of America DARE to.
Poor America, the Most Sacred Gift from our Forefathers – the Declaration of Independence – was TRASHED and BELITTLED for ENTIRE Planet to see by this Muslim Impostor instead of talking about his role in that nest of vipers. It is SAD that NO American STANDS UP for America.

Mar 25, 2008 - 11:08 pm derek:

It’s just not possible that Obama could have gone to that church for almost 20 years without agreeing at least in part with the theology. There is a great article about this at…

http://www.intelligentconservatism.com/?p=32

Mar 27, 2008 - 6:20 am Allen:

I think it will be a wonderful experience for America to have a bona fide racist like Obama at the helm. It would typically be impossible to accept that a man could attend the equivalent of a national socialist rally on Sunday for 20 years and not know what was going on; however, one should never underestimate the gullibility and stupidity of the American people–they’ll elect him anyway. I see more racial divide with Obama than unification–unless, of course, one is considering unification of all racists. Racists of the world unite…!!

Mar 30, 2008 - 1:40 pm druidmary:

there is a great article on a personal website that speaks to this.
He took a situation that wa shis problem and turned it on us as our problem.

Please join our discussions at:
http://hillaryisourchoice.com/simplemachinesforum/

and add your input.

Ferraro only said that if he was white he may not have gotten all the black votes. This is more than likely fact. If I was black I’d probably vote for him.
Remember they pointed out ow historic this was, first black man. It’s all over that he is black This is not racism. it is fact.

Mar 31, 2008 - 6:35 pm