The Painful Obama-Wright Debacle
Obama needed to make his presidential run about issues. Now it's about other things.
“If I lose, it won’t be because of race. It will be because I made mistakes on the campaign trail. I wasn’t communicating effectively my plans in terms of helping them in their everyday lives. But I don’t think race is going to be a barrier in the general election.”
(Barack Obama on “Fox News Sunday:” 4/27/08)
Barack Obama didn’t have a good week. He lost the Pennsylvania primary in late April and then Rev. Jeremiah Wright took a “Magical Mystery Tour” through the media on the weekend after the primary. After the Bill Moyers interview on PBS, things looked a little better. Wright appeared lucid, calm and helpful to Barack. He made a few snide comments but overall it was a good performance. From there, the Obama campaign looked forward to what would happen at the speech to the NAACP and then the appearance at the National Press Club.
Barack Obama wasn’t fully aware of the impact of the “performance” of Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club. He had been reading parts of it sent to him by staffers throughout the day. After returning to his hotel at the end of a long day of campaigning, he watched the replay.
I don’t know how he felt, but I would imagine that it felt as if he had lost his father again. Barack Obama loved Jeremiah Wright. He wrote about him and talked about him many times. When he described him in his speech about race in Philadelphia he said, “But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another, to care for the sick and lift up the poor… I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
Those comments in March are a long way from what Obama said on Tuesday about Rev. Wright’s performance. “They (Wright’s comments) certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either.”
What a painful statement to have to make.
I grew up in the Atlanta area and lived there when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, his funeral held in Atlanta a few days later. Dr. King preached the Gospel and pushed the envelope; he pushed America to better herself. It could be argued that no man or woman has pushed America towards her potential more than Martin Luther King. But it was never about separation, it was always about opportunity.
In the days of the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King, the people with him were expected to dress and behave impeccably. They were not allowed to swear in public and certainly not in the pulpit. Barack Obama embodies much of that civility but not the maturity. The long good-bye that Obama said to Rev. Wright was a sign of immaturity, akin to a child who doesn’t want to leave an abusive parent. It’s hard to believe that Dr. King was not 40 years old when he died and the decisions and the integrity in those decisions demonstrated a maturity that very few men achieve in their entire life time.
For me, I am sorry this whole debacle happened. I’d like the election to be about issues, but the last few weeks have been about Jeremiah Wright. It is too bad that Jeremiah Wright only thought about himself and his hurt feelings. Obama needed to make this race about issues. Now it’s about other things. He said on Sunday to the Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace that if he loses the election it won’t be about race, but it will be about strength of character and integrity and toughness. We need a leader, not a law professor.
There is still hope for Barack Obama as long as Michigan and Florida don’t get seated and he doesn’t have another Jeremiah Wright moment. Hillary Clinton, however, smells blood in the water and is not giving up. It doesn’t matter how many times Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter say this will be settled by June 3-it ain’t happening. Hillary Clinton’s motivation is power. It’s not money, fame or respect-it is power and she is not giving up. By the time the convention rolls around, she’s hoping that Barack will stumble again and she’ll be there to push him aside.
So in this very long campaign there is still plenty of time for more fireworks. There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton has some sad stories of her own and even more skeletons in her closet. Barack Obama is still a largely unknown quantity, especially in comparison to Hillary Clinton or John McCain. So hold on Indiana, North Carolina, Oregon and Puerto Rico, the parade is coming to you.
Martha Zoller is a political analyst and radio host. Her daily show is carried on WDUN AM 550 in Gainesville, Georgia. She makes regular appearances on cable news programs and was one of Talkers Magazine’s “Heavy Hundred” talk show hosts for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Her first book, “Indivisible: Uniting Values for a Divided America”
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34 Comments
1. David Thomson:“There is still hope for Barack Obama…”
That is the understatement of the year. BO has little to worry about. The Democratic Party is not going to reject a “man of color” for some white woman. End of discussion. He will have to personally give up the race. Nobody dares to force him out.
May 6, 2008 - 2:31 am 2. Chris R.:Seriously, is Obama still a real contender for Dems? He now says that perhaps he doesn’t know the Rev. Wright as well as he thought. Really? He knows the guy for 20 years and sings his praises, but claims he didn’t know about Wright’s very public hate-mongering and whatnot. That is quite a large portion of BS to swallow. I’ll wash that down with some Spanish ham I found in Philly.
I do have a serious question however. I am curious as to why Dr. King is mentioned in most articles about Obama and Rev. Wright. Those two don’t belong on the same page as Dr. King, and comparing them is akin to comparing apples and bowling balls. It should be quite obvious to everyone that Dr. King’s dream has been mutated and corrupted in his absence. I look around and I don’t see a shred of Dr. King’s legacy in our current culture. Rev. Wright and his pals say their brand of rhetoric is pervasive, and gangster rap is still around, among a myriad of other problems. We see O.J. Simpson, Rodney King, and Michael Jackson in the media causing controversy and division but we don’t see anyone like a Dr. King causing beneficial and non-violent controversy. It’s really a shame, for the country as a whole. The racial divide has existed for a very long time and it’s getting wider. The Obama-Wright debacle is just another disappointment in a long line of disappointment with the African-American community.
Obama started out saying he would unite our country and heal the racial divide. Sounds great but guess again folks, it’s just another empty promise by a false prophet.
May 6, 2008 - 2:53 am 3. Ed Wallis:It’s hard to imagine that this half-white, half-black candidate of the Democratic Party-of-Identity-Politics every truly wanted to “run on the issues.”
Ceaselessly repeating “hope” and “change” tends to - as Sen. Obama so likes to say - “distract” from the issues.
THE OBAMBOOZLER - what a charlatan.
May 6, 2008 - 2:56 am 4. Evil Pundit:“… if he loses the election it won’t be about race, but it will be about strength of character and integrity and toughness.”
So far, Obama seems to be scoring low on all three.
He lied about Jeremiah Wright, then dumped him. He threw his grandmother under the bus. And after the one debate where he was asked a couple of tough questions, he’s chickened out from further debates.
I don’t think he measures up very well.
May 6, 2008 - 3:44 am 5. Juanita Woods:Obama is an eternal optimist with a vision few of us can see or understand. His multi-racial and multi-cultural background and experiences significantly contribute to how he views the world and the American people. Does he really believe there are no “red states or “blue states?” …ABSOLUTELY! Does he think America is ready to put race aside?…ABSOLUTELY! Contrary to what he believes, I do not believe that if he loses the nomination that it will not be about race but I am so glad that he always takes the high road with dignity and class. My God what a joy it would be to have a President again who does make good speeches, who is not a bumbling idiot like George Bush, and who can genuinely lift up our status in the world where we have lost so much respect globally as well as at home, and will use choose diplomacy over cowboy mentality. Imagine his impact when meeting with foreign heads of state!!! McCain couldn’t touch him!And, remember Hillary’s excuse for the lie she told about Bosnia….tired….won’t she be tired at “3:00 in the morning?” Vote for Obama folks!!!!
May 6, 2008 - 6:21 am 6. Brad:“Obama is an eternal optimist with a vision few of us can see or understand.”
**The arrogance of that statement is boundless. I suggest looking into medication.
May 6, 2008 - 6:50 am 7. M.H:So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. MATTHEW 17:20
Enough said
May 6, 2008 - 7:23 am 8. colagirl:magine his impact when meeting with foreign heads of state!!!
Given his poor judgment in choosing associates, his weakness and vacillation and his fecklessness as demonstrated on the campaign trail so far (as his indecision over whether to dump Wright and the fact that the pressure from the press *already* seems to be getting to him) frankly, I cringe at the thought. Whatever else Hillary is, she’s proving that she’s definitely a fighter with fire in the belly. Obama, not so much. Obama seems like a nice guy, but unfortunately, nice guys finish last, and in the race for president, perhaps they should.
May 6, 2008 - 7:26 am 9. Obama » The Painful Obama-Wright Debacle:[...] Martha Zoller wrote an interesting post today on The Painful Obama-Wright DebacleHere’s a quick excerptObama needed to make his presidential run about issues. Now it’s about other things. [...]
May 6, 2008 - 7:54 am 10. BMoon:A guy in my church in Mexico City has a band and they were rehearsing this song to play at a 30th wedding anniversary because the daughter wanted to sing it for her parents. The irony was that the parents and the entire party were key members of the leftist PRD Party here in Mexico. Cuautemoc Cardenas was there. Apparently, the girl and folks did not get the gist of the song…lost in the translation I suppose. But it reminded so much me of Obama and his hordes of child-followers chantings about “Revolution”, so….
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know you can count me out.
Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright
Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We’re doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright
Alright, alright, al…
You say you’ll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know know it’s gonna be alright
May 6, 2008 - 8:32 am 11. BJ:Alright, alright
Amen!
May 6, 2008 - 8:42 am 12. EDW:Perhaps compared to talking about Wright Obama would prefer to talk about issues, but I don’t think issues are his strong suit. He’s far to the left of most Americans, and instead it makes a lot more for him to run on charisma and very ephemeral and ulitmately dishonest overtures to centrism. McCain knows what he’s doing by saying he wants the general election to be about issues. Obama’s jesusness has worn off to all but the most faithful and now it gets back to fact that he wants strong unions, weakness in foreign policy, unsustainable increases in taxation and spending. I think if most Americans look past the cosmetics of the race right now, they’ll find they’re much closer to McCain on issues than they are to Obie.
May 6, 2008 - 9:32 am 13. huxley:For me, I am sorry this whole debacle happened. I’d like the election to be about issues, but the last few weeks have been about Jeremiah Wright.I’m sorry that Obama chose a black liberation church to attend and its wacko, anti-American pastor as his moral confidant and even, until last month, campaign adviser. If Obama is going to run on “judgment,” he has Wright to answer for. Obama is not a victim here.
May 6, 2008 - 9:51 am 14. BMoon:“I’d like the election to be about issues…”
TRANSLATION: Just keep your eye on my media-created personna, and all the goody bags I wanna hand out from the taxpayer-funded feeding trough, and keep your focus off my deeply-held ideology, background, associates, ie. the deeper issues.
May 6, 2008 - 10:04 am 15. John the Libertarian:Obama!
Hopechange?
Bittercling!
May 6, 2008 - 11:59 am 16. PR:Juanita
May 6, 2008 - 2:15 pm 17. PR:Listen to what Obama says, not how he says it. He wants to take this country towards socialism. It’s as clear as day. I don’t understand how you a
Juanita
May 6, 2008 - 2:18 pm 18. Believer:Listen to what Obama says, not how he says it. He wants to take this country towards socialism. That’s his ‘change’….it’s as clear as day. Are you OK with that? Do you even know what socialism means?
There’s a whole lot more pain ahead for Obama. It may be he’ll even look back rather fondly on these past few weeks.
Wright isn’t his only problem.
Nope. This time it’ll be about that “neighbor” of his - the friendly terrorist, Ayers. Before long, we’ll be introduced to the length and breadth of Barry’s and Michelle’s association with Bill and Bernadine.
And then he’ll have some real ’splainin’ to do.
May 6, 2008 - 2:39 pm 19. Mr. Music:I’m very hopeful that most people realize that the Jeremiah Wright “story” is complete media manufactured BS. Our country is facing serious serious issues and has had 8 years of horrendous leadership. I feel that most people realize that McCain means more of the same and that Barack Obama is a hopeful new beginning. In the end people will vote for the person that they think can turn around the economy, bring health care to more people at a more affordable price, and get us out of Iraq for good. That person will obviously be Barack Obama & NOT John McCain.
May 6, 2008 - 3:45 pm 20. M. Simon:Obama is an eternal optimist with a vision few of us can see or understand.
Yep. No vision.
Well he does have one - raise taxes even if it lowers revenue and stalls the economy. He wants fairness. i.e Bob Uecker gets paid the same as Joe DiMaggio for playing baseball.
What could be fairer than that?
So he can’t make his vision visible. He can’t make it understandable.
What kind of politician is he?
May 6, 2008 - 5:41 pm 21. M. Simon:I’m very hopeful that most people realize that the Jeremiah Wright “story” is complete media manufactured BS.
Totally agree. It says nothing about Obama’s character or his concern for his children that he would stay with his racist Minister for 20 years. And did you meet the New Minister? Same as the Old Minister.
Yep. Totally manufactured BS. Manufactured by Obama’s choices.
May 6, 2008 - 5:46 pm 22. Believer:Mr. Music,
If you studied this guy’s political accomplishments (none - unless you count the bills he had Emil Jones put his name on instead of the people who’d worked years on them) and his handling of his political opponents (ruthless), you’d be whistling a different tune.
It wasn’t bad enough that he placed his own young kids in Wright’s pews to further his political ambitions, but when he ran for his US Senate seat, “someone” got his opponent’s divorce records unsealed in order to destroy him. But there was some collateral damage: the kids of that opponent.
Like a typical narcissist, he cares nothing for anyone/anything but himself. Nothing matters but getting his needs met. And don’t get me going on Michelle…
May 7, 2008 - 1:16 am 23. Angry African:Another day gone and another day of speculations on who will be the next President. Another round of mud slinging and unfounded rumors. And I am not talking about those running to become the next US President. I am talking about the American people – or at least some of them. I am astounded to read some of the things people have to say about those leaders who are willing to put their hand up in a difficult time in the American history. What is it that makes people dig so deep to find their own worse self in the way they speak about the candidates? It’s like being in South Africa all over again back in 1994 when we had our own first democratic elections. The doomsayers lived large. But the truth is that all three would make fairly good Presidents – and all have their flaws. It won’t be the end of America. Can’t people just focus on what makes America great instead of scrapping the bottom of the barrel of humanity in the way they talk about their potential future leader? http://angryafrican.net/2008/05/07/november-is-coming-start-stockpiling-baby/
May 7, 2008 - 6:56 am 24. mrsinfrance:I see one thing when I read about obama supporters like Mr Music: people who want a aorld to be fine again, without the evils we have been witnessing, oh by the way, France is looking for more affordable health care too.
May 7, 2008 - 8:04 am 25. Ed Wallis:Angry African writes, “Can’t people just focus on what makes America great…?”
Actually, AA, that is exactly what we are doing here. Free and open debate. You may or may not yet have the perspective of appreciating that in the U.S..
Also, Socialism Lite, promoted by both Clinton and Obama, is exactly the opposite of “what makes America great.”
May 7, 2008 - 1:19 pm 26. Justin:<>
Ok, you lost me. How is a liberal Republican “more of the same”? How is a racist who is bitter towards white people, and who has been bathed in racial hatred, and pure unvarnished hatred and prejudice towards America for the past 20 YEARS a “hopeful new beginning”?
Don’t get me wrong, he makes us FEEL HOPEFUL when we listen to him because he is a good speaker and he is highly charismatic. But that is all there is to him. Beneath that smile there is a man with no substance. I was going to vote for him because at first he seemed like a “hopeful new beginning”. That was before I actually started learning about him. Unfortunately, while quick to point out other people’s flaws, acknowledge their own. That is how Howard Dean came onto the scene. And then, when it finally penetrated the left’s thick skulls that he wasn’t electable they chose the man who literally had the most biased voting record in the entire Senate. He was also a completely self absorbed prick when the cameras were off of him as well. Now they have given us Obama. Sorry, McCain will have to do. He wasn’t my first choice, but maybe a compromise president is what will be best for this country.
May 7, 2008 - 1:45 pm 27. The Indypendent:Obama’s Race Against Race
The Indypendent
A black man runs from a howling crowd. If he’s caught he’ll be torn apart. If he reaches sanctuary he’ll be loved. This ritual is the Sacred Lynching. It’s a scene from Olaf Stapledon’s science fiction book, The First and Last Men. Set in the future, humanity has mixed and few people are “white” or “black,” and the ritual is a nostalgic celebration of racism in a post-racial world. It resembles our own supposed post-racial politics, and I see Senator Barack Obama as that last black man on earth trying to outrun our media mob.
And the mob tries. At ABC’s Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia, hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos tied trivia around Obama’s feet. What about your angry black pastor? Are you patriotic? Are you a friend of a Weathermen terrorist? Obama questioned their questions until they looked absurd. The audience caught his cue and afterwards, when the cameras blinked off, they heckled the hosts.
The media chase Obama because, if he wins the presidential race, he’ll break the last American color line, which is also the line between our repressed history and our collective consciousness. A nation, just like an individual, will repress images and ideas that conflict with its self-image. The violence that created who we are — enslavement of Africans, indigenous peoples marched off their land, workers hanged for unionizing — contradicts our self-image as the greatest nation on earth, so our media-represses it…
To continue reading:
May 7, 2008 - 2:07 pm 28. Javelin:http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/obama%e2%80%99s-race-against-race/
God, if the people who comment on this blog represent the average thinking man in this country then we are in deep crap. All I hear is a bunch of cliche spewing talk show slogans and cliches from tiny little minds.
May 7, 2008 - 2:58 pm 29. HappyinAZ:And this website is sending who down the river?
I feel that most people realize that McCain means more of the same and that Barack Obama is a hopeful new beginning. In the end people will vote for the person that they think can turn around the economy, bring health care to more people at a more affordable price, and get us out of Iraq for good. That person will obviously be Barack Obama & NOT John McCain.
obama is a borderline communist that will take this country so far to the “left” that Rev Wright will be doing the invocations at the White House. Your taxes will go UP to fund all of his social programs…unemployment will sky-rocket as he taxes “evil” industry…an all the progress we made in Irac will be destroyed. Get a clue!
May 8, 2008 - 7:52 am 30. BMoon:Oh God, please save us from fools like, Javelin. Amen.
May 8, 2008 - 8:55 am 31. Kathy:Clinton takes Indiana by a ‘razor’ and Obama wins North Carolina by a huge margin. Nevertheless, Kentucky, Montana and West Virginia are still to come.
The Democratic race for nomination is still very much alive – and most likely to be decided by superdelegates
If you’re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama
If you haven’t done so yet, please write a message to each of your state’s superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
Obama Supporters:
Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It’s that easy…
Clinton Supporters too …. !
It takes a moment, but what’s a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?! Those are really worth !
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it’s appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It’s that easy…
May 9, 2008 - 3:35 am 32. Bill Bradley:I expected Obama to have a good week this week. He did. Actually, he did better than I expected. He’s up in the polls. The Good Ship Hillary is taking on water. Superdelegates and money all flowing to Obama. Obama ahead of McCain with a higher image score in Rasmussen for the first time since March 10th.
And so forth.
He’s too exotic and liberal for a lot of America. But this is a very rough year for Republicans.
May 9, 2008 - 2:15 pm 33. Justin:@ Bill Bradley
If by “exotic” you mean black you are wrong. If this were Colen Powell running in a year that would be good for Republicans he would likely have a cake walk to the presidency, minus the legion of liberals who would be screaming that he wasn’t “authentically” black. Authentically meaning that he wasn’t attending churches that screamed racism and hatred for white people and America for 2 DECADES along with a host of other crap.
May 10, 2008 - 7:54 am 34. fox 4 news:[...] of helping them in their everyday lives. But I don??t think race is going to be a barrier in thehttp://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-painful-obama-wright-debacle/Fox 4 News at 10 - AOL TelevisionFox 4 news at 10 episodes, cast and crew, photos, listings and more [...]
May 12, 2008 - 10:27 am