Pajamas Media

70 Comments

Vince:

Oh Roger, you are beyond help.

First, Obama was not suggesting Wright and his grandmother are the same (and by the way, being generally afraid of running into a black guy at night is not equivalent to fearing a mugging. Obama said his grandmother was afraid of black men writ large.). He was trying to make the point that people we love have deep flaws. Could Obama have said that better? Absolutely, but the comparison is far less sloppy than the one he made between Tom Coburn and Bill Ayers, I’d say.

The real issue here is that Wright, as shown by yesterday’s speech, has become an instant publicity whore hell-bent on bringing his congregant down by insisting Obama has been insincere all along.

Obama can still torpedo this prick.

Apr 29, 2008 - 10:13 am abu al-fin:

Anyone who bothered to read Obama’s “Dreams from my Father” would have known that Obama is just another throwback to the race-baiting hustlers of the 80s and 90s. Martin Luther King Jr. would be appalled at the cynically routine use of race in politics and political extortion today.

Just another problem for those who actually work for a living must deal with.

Apr 29, 2008 - 10:27 am chris:

The African American - Black block is becoming less relevant in many areas of the country. One area in which the block has had a high profile has been the ranks of civil servants and grant funded organizations in center cities. Thiose leaders can still mobilze a nice captive vote for Democrats. While still strong at the higher levels, the demographics are blowing up. Hispanics, Asians, ex-Soviet block immigrants and others overwhelm the black population outside the south. The old guard e.g. race mongers like Wright - still think they are a force outside their little worlds. They are not and many of the new immigrant groups come from societies that are very prejudiced against blacks. There are legions of people that took a look at Obama and were willing to cut him some slack. Many are sickened by what is coming from underneath the rocks being kicked over - Wright-Ayers-Rezko. You don’t see Latinos or Asians coming to the guys aid.

Apr 29, 2008 - 10:31 am David Thomson:

The Democrats’ presidential candidate must attract the full ninety percent of the black vote to win the White House. Even a small drop may spell disaster on Election Day. Democrat leaders subconsciously realize that this minority community must be constantly radicalized. They fear contented and hopeful black voters. Any serious candidate who is also a “person of color” like “Barry” Obama must therefore go along with the scheme.

Only the Republicans realistically offer the hope of a “post racial” America. The Democrats are a bunch of losers. A center right black man would easily win the presidential contest. The Democratic Party is committed to race card politics—perhaps even existentially. This mindset is so firmly established that the Democrats may no longer even be able to imagine another approach. Race hustling might now be part of their political DNA.

Apr 29, 2008 - 10:38 am david levavi:

Sorry Roger, but Barrack is no coward. No coward–certainly no coward of color–could have come this far. Give Obama his due. He has courage aplenty. And great self-possession. And a graceful, if studied, Kennedyesque manner.

Obama hasn’t distanced himself from Wright because it isn’t possible. He and Wright both remember when Obama was a just a milky-chinned young comer looking for a political base.

By his own account, Obama listened to Wright’s taped rants to improve his public speaking. Obama used to sit in church taking written notes while Wright hollered. After twenty years on his knees kissing the ring, Obama can’t let go.

And Wright is a very real threat to Obama. Wright brags that he warned obama he’d be on Obama’s back the day after his election to make sure Obama doesn’t forget his commitment to the values they share. Obama knows that Wright is a loudmouthed slanderer who knows every intimate detail of the Obama Family’s life.

Black Liberation Theology is less religion than political ideology. Racist, pseudo-scientific ideology with a heavy emphasis on purportedly superior gentics and culture. Sound familiar? Black liberation Theology is Black National Socialism.

Obama’s dillemma with regard to Jeremiah Wright is that once faced by Adolf Hitler with regard to Erich Roehm of the SA. Roehm and the SA made Hitler. Roehm knew where all the bodies were buried. Hitler’s sexuality was no secret to Roehm and his brownshirt girlscouts of the SA.

Absent a Night of the Long Knives, Obama and Wright will remain joined at the hip. And a good thing, too. Spares the nation a Black Nazi coup d’etat.

Apr 29, 2008 - 10:56 am Anthony (Los Angeles):

It has a potential for pushing race relations seriously backwards in a society that was already relatively open handed.It has a potential for pushing race relations seriously backwards in a society that was already relatively open handed.

In the short term, yes. But, in the long-term, shining this harsh light on the bigotry rampant in the Black community may be good for the nation. (You yourself contributed to that light with your video interview of Daphna Ziman, Roger.) Allowing Black public figures to hide their own racism behind the “race victim” shield does no one any good, least of all African-Americans. If true progress is to be made, then all sides must be open to criticism. Obama’s clumsy, half-hearted attempts to “distance” himself from Wright and the Revs’ “look at me” rantings may well have unintentionally helped hasten the day of a real “conversation on race” that in the long-term will help lance this national boil.

Apr 29, 2008 - 11:06 am Olivia:

Chris is right. And it’s not just Hispanic and Asian populations that are booming but non-native blacks as well. There are more Africans that have willingly immigrated to America than in the middle-passage days of slavery. All those arguments about the systemic racism sound hollow to the African immigrants who speak english with thick accents and worked their way up the ladder the good old fashion way. Why is it that these black immigrants can adapt to a foreign culture with little money, no connections or education but “african-americans” cannot. Do they really think they are that special? Most African countries still suffering under the lingering effects of colonialism have only been independent since the 1960’s. But the people still soldier on striving to make life better for themselves and their families. Sharpton and Wright need to stop whining and holding their own communities hostage to crippling self-sabotage. It’s sick and it’s sad.

Apr 29, 2008 - 11:24 am David Wynn:

First, implying that the “chickens come home to roost” comment is Wright’s is preposterous. He was quoting an ambassador who borrowed the words from Malcolm X. That’s just flat out wrong.

Second, and perhaps I speak only for myself, but my “original attraction” to Obama’s campaign was not because I looked at him and thought a black president would fix racism in America. My vote was turned by his position on Iraq, his tech policies, and his goal to bring a new style of politics into the public discourse. Obama can’t fix racism by getting elected any more than Hillary can fix sexism.

Third, I think calling his speech on race “opportunistic” is a complete mischaracterization of the speech. Trying to define the nuances of the racism that remain present in America today is a tall order. And to call a 50 minute speech designed to address that opportunistic is just plain disingenuous.

Apr 29, 2008 - 11:30 am Martya:

Is it possible that the race profiteers, Sharpton, Jackson, most black city politicians and Wright, see Obama as being “too white?” Wright’s instruction on the differences in brain usage was fascinating. Obama has one white parent, very white, and one black parent, very black. Which brain did he inherit? Part of Obama initial charm was that there “was an awful lot of white in that boy.”

Apr 29, 2008 - 11:55 am Night Owl:

“Obama said his grandmother was afraid of black men writ large.”

Yes; he willingly dragged his grandmother into the public domain and tarred her with the brush of bigotry; just so he could attempt to mitigate his questionable long-term association with a man holding views offensive to large numbers of americans. Nice guy. I was behind him up until this point. You can have him.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:07 pm Gary Ogletree:

After decades of our either ignoring or making excuses for black racism it has grown and spread so much that it can be expressed openly on national TV without much fear of censure. Many in our media and academia even come forth to justify it. Were we the horrible racist nation the Obama and Wright crowd say we are then Jim Crow would reign supreme, and not just in Dixie: no Civil Rights Act, no Voting Rights Act, no War on Poverty, no affirmative action, no black mayors, no black police chiefs, no Oprah show, no BET, no black millionaires, etc. MLK, Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, and anyone else who failed to stay in their place would be parked in federal prisons. But, somehow, typical white people were stirred awake by a young preacher from Atlanta whose moral example has yet to be matched. Again and again white folks rose to the challenge to right old wrongs, assert racial equality and create equal opportunity, spending untold billions in the effort. No nation in history has come so far so fast in redressing social and economic injustice. Any black leader with integrity would celebrate this and express thanks for the Good Old USA. Until that happens, this typical white person says we have done our part and I am not inclined to cut any more slack or tolerate any more BS. Time for black people to stop the endless whining and get their act together. The black community is seriously screwed up and it ain’t whitey fault.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:08 pm Angela:

McCain and H. Clinton must be loving this, the platform in which Rev. Wright’s dialogue on comprehending race differences is apparent on this blog. I can sympathize with Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s oppressed circumventions. Rev. Wright’s descriptive differences on how blacks and whites view racism in America were received as being Marxist Fascist. In addition, some Americans continue to demonize Obama’s transcending above the racial lines with both suspicion and criticism. It is presumptuous to think Rev. Wright should show gratitude for what some privilege Americans believe Rev. Wright is indebted, moreover, his patriotic servitude in the Marine Corps and Navy in defending America Liberty has been minimize to oblivion. Given the fact that Rev Wright served in the Military during an era under conditions in which minorities were classified as second-class citizens solely based on their ethnicity, please give this man the benefits of doubt, he has committed his life to bridge together the racial injustice and the social-economical gap only the pauperized can truly appreciate. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has earned his rights to oscillate his viewpoints on race relations and solidarity. To combat racial divisiveness, we must first acknowledge it still exist here in America, no matter what form it tries to conceal itself. To insinuate Rev. Wright has benefited serving his country undermines his patriotism in which he committed six years of his life to defend America’s civil liberty. To further characterized and misconstrue the entirety context of his message of solidarity [at the National Press Club], and loop continuous 30-second sound bites of his sermon on “you tube” then paste partial context of his message to manipulate and deliver a divisive [Democratic Party], well frankly,lets just endorse McCain for President, he has at least few years life expectancy.

Unfortunately, Obama’s bid as the Democratic Presidential Nominee is being derail every time his former pastor speaks, the media is transfix in hanging on to Rev. Wright’s every word. Race has been an issue Obama is inept of containing. If ever a campaign strategy has been successful of painting the fear into the white masses, the FEAR OF A BLACK MAN WITH POWER IN THE WHITE HOUSE, a cynical illustration, a minstrel without a punch line. It is pathetic, nevertheless, effective. OMG, I just played the race card, as if it couldn’t be play both ways!

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:13 pm Pagan:

I just love how racism is only racism if it is white on black. If it’s black on white, there’s no problem.

Reverend Wright and Sharpton are the biggest racists out there. They oh so obviously hate whites.

Government created AIDS…OH PLEEEEEAAAAAZZZZZE! Then explain to me how whites are victims too? IDIOTS!

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:19 pm Nicolo M.:

The defenders of Rev. Wright are nothing thinking very clearly. An African-American could have been elected in America years ago. It is the Wrights and Sharptons who want to stop them, because it puts them out of business - unless, of course, it is Wright or Sharpton running. If Obama were smart, he would have backed away from Wright after 2001.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:19 pm ChknLtL:

I dunno but this reminds me a little of the NFTA thing. Obama says one thing; his surrogates say something else; voters pick the one they like. Looks like win-win for him . But I always was a suspicious sort….

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:22 pm nick:

Gary - well said and i couln’t agree more. anytime blacks are in trouble with the police or they get denied anything or they want something but don’t want to work for it - they say it’s racism. I say bullshit. The only ones keeping any concept of racism alive is the black community itself.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:23 pm Ernst Blofeld:

Obama’s speech on race was opportunistic. The reason he was giving the Philadelphia speech was because of his association with Wright. Talking about race has nothing to do with his Wright problem; it was a diversion, a shiny bauble intended to distract the press and public from his unsavory associates. Give them a Big Think piece on race in America and they’ll lay off on Wright.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:25 pm Clare:

The Reverend Wright episode has taken America eyes off of the real issues. While some americans are hell bent on gossip, The bushes are having a field day with gas prices. Hillary clinton and John McCain has do not care about our crisis now. If you all were smart, you would focus on how you are going to pay for gas, keep you homes, buy food for your families, and keep your jobs. Don’t be blinded by an issue that will be in the past shortly. We gas prices are still escalating.

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:47 pm iceberg:

Vince: Obama said his grandmother was afraid of black men writ large.). He was trying to make the point that people we love have deep flaws.

Being frightened of young black men isn’t a deep flaw Vince, it’s a realistic appraisal of the situation

It’s folks like you who scupper Obama’s chances by trying to paper over his gaffes…

As for Wright: he is as authentic as Obama is not. He’s a fabulous polemicist full of fire and mad as hell…if Obama had an ounce of his passion he would be more winning…he’s so programmed now he can’t even say his supporters aren’t winedrinking sluggos but has to say “chablis drinking”….jeez did he never learn the vernacular!

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:48 pm PB:

What is most amazing to me is that Wright name is all over every news and media cast as such a bad guy. Ironically, the pope just denounced Priest that sexually abused kids for year and the Catholic Church has known for years – yet not one Catholics has been asked to leave there church or why they stayed while knowing sexual abuse to innocent children was going on – how hypocritical is our media!!

Apr 29, 2008 - 12:52 pm Vince:

You’re a winner, Nightowl, willfully distorting the words of those with whom you disagree.

No less a conservative than Charles Murray wrote something to the effect that “Obama was only throwing his grandmother under the bus if you assumed that that’s the kind of person he is. There’s nothing like writing about race; it’s our national Rohrschach test.” Murray ough to know.

So no, Nightowl, I do not believe for a second that you were “behind Obama up to that point.” You had your mind made up before he took the stage.

Wank on, friend, and see you in November.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:00 pm Night Owl:

This is what I would like to hear from the Rev Wrights and Al Sharptons:

The story of the African-American experience is a chapter in the story of the American Dream- the story of people yearning for freedom and opportunity, coming to America to fulfill that dream. It is a chapter that begins more tragically than others, but whose ending is far from tragic.

The Americans descended from slaves can stand proud, since they had to overcome so much more than other immigrant Americans to achieve what they have. But achieve they did. Their ancestors came in chains and dreamed of freedom. And they achieved it. And they can achieve so much more. They are true Americans- here from the very founding of this country- who fought admirably in every battle. Not “African” Americans, but AMERICANS. And God bless America for the brave men and women of all colors who fought to end the sin of slavery. And with God’s continued blessing our children can live to see the day when MLK’s dream is the realty, and people are judged based solely on the content of their characters, not the color of their skin.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:02 pm paul a'barge:

“It has a potential for pushing race relations seriously backwards”

Yes. And backwards they go, pell-mell. A shame really. What is the take away from Obama’s candidacy?
1) America indeed is not ready for a black man as president, because very few black men are ready to be president. This is most especially true in the Democrat Party. Look around. Do you see one black male Democrat who is not infected with this viral spiritual disease? Nope.
2) The Republican Party is the only hope for us to see a black man as U.S. President in our lifetime. Democrat black men are hopelessly and congenitally infected with the racialism personified by Wright and Obama. Unfortunately, here is the quandary: Black men in the Republican Party are such a new phenomenon that they have not yet climbed the electoral food chain to places of prominence that would convey the kind of gravitas to make those black men realistic candidates. And unfortunately, the very few who have (Colin Powell) have effectively eliminated themselves from the competition by selling out the traditional values of American Conservatism.
3) This means that we will not see an American black man as president in our lifetimes.
4) So if we’re going to make it over any of the identity politics hurdles, it will have to be the gender hurdle. America will have a female U.S. President long, long before our nation sees a black man elected president.

It’s too bad. It would be a great blessing and a great step forward for America to elect a black man as president. The healing potential would be enormous. Unfortunately America can not take a chance electing a black man president because the stakes are too great. America is not some podunk middle tier country like Mexico or Switzerland where the person elected leader makes no difference to Planet Earth. Choosing America’s president is very important for our planet.

What is most unsatisfying about this is that black America did this to itself, almost by itself. Black Americans could not move beyond the historical grudge by one inch. They could not see how taken for granted they are by the establishment of the Democrat Party. And they could not recognize how their individual opportunities and identities could trump the identity politics to which they shackled themselves.

Hurry up black Americans. Faster. Please try to catch up.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:23 pm el polacko:

barack has played a racial politics game from day one. he explains very clearly in his book how easy it is to pull one over on ‘whitey’.. and he was talking about his own mother !
one month ago he said in his “historic” speech that he could no more disown rev. wright than he could disown his white grandmother or the black community. today, barack said that he disowns him.
a classic case of being caught up in one’s own web of racially-identified politics.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:31 pm Bozoer Rebbe:

“Obama can’t fix racism by getting elected any more than Hillary can fix sexism.”

And those on the left cannot countenance the idea that the simple fact that one of the two major political parties will be choosing between a woman and a person of color for their presidential candidate is prima facie evidence of the dramatic decline in sexism and racism in the United States.

“Obama said his grandmother was afraid of black men writ large.”

Actually, in his book he said she was afraid of a specific black man who aggressively panhandled her on a bus.

In his Phila. speech he turned that into a more generalized fear of black men, but that isn’t how he originally described the incident.

Obama would have been wise to have affiliated with a different church, one in DC, when he was elected to the Senate. That would have given him some kind of distance between himself and Wright in the event of a possible presidential run. Instead, as the Obamas’ own wealth increased, they donated $46,000 to the church, a church that Sen. Obama must now profess to be clueless about their teachings and preachings.

The best thing that Obama could do, for the country, is to call out other blacks on their credulous belief in a whole raft of conspiracy theories and magical thinking.

The Tuskeegee Experiment is not an excuse for believing nonsense. Actually, many blacks believe nonsense about the Tuskeegee experiment itself by claiming that the government deliberately infected black men with syphilis, which isn’t true. The study involved sharecroppers that public health officials had already identified as infected.

BTW, the fact that they were untreated is less of an ethical issue than the fact that they were lied to about receiving treatment and the various procedures they endured. The original author of the experiment resigned over that issue. His original design called for the experiment to run for a year, after which the subjects would receive normal treatments. Like I said, as designed the Tuskeegee Experiment was more akin to a modern day placebo study, particularly since the available treatments in the 1930s didn’t do much good.

While it was unethical for them to continue the experiment into the late 1940s, it was truly heinous to continue it once a truly effective treatment, penicillin, became available.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:40 pm Noga:

Well, Obama divorced himself from Wright today. It was an unbelievably Shakespearean moment, Prince Hal disengaging from Falstaff. He spoke simply, clarified in no uncertain terms that Rev. Wright’s opinions and positions were anathema to what he, Obama, was and to what his campaign was all about. Particularly painful to him was Wright’s suggestion that Obama’s voiced positions about Farrakhan and his own hateful comments was due to political posturing.

Apr 29, 2008 - 1:40 pm Julian:

I’ve read all the comments here and its amazing how the media still influences the misconceptions of Black America.

The only people that continue to make Sharpton, Jackson & Rev Wright relevant is the media. Blacks may sympathize with these men, but they no longer represent the consensus of Black American politics & social ideology.

The majority of blacks maybe Democrat by voter registration but don’t always prescribe to the candidate. I’ve always argued that there would be more Conservative representation in Black districts if Republicans really campaigned in them. Unfortunately they never really do.

Instead of relying on the networks for information about Blacks, maybe you should openly dialogue with Black people. You’ll be surprised what you hear. There are more John McWhorters and Angela McGlowans in the community than what you think.

Remember, Hillary Clinton had 50% of the black vote until her husband couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:00 pm Misanthropicus:

Today’s snap-shot: Obamma scooping water from his boat.
Tomorrow’s snap-shot: Obama $ media hastily scooping water from Obama’s boat.
Thursday’s snap-shot: Obama, media & libs feverishly scooping water from Obama’s boat.
Friday’s snap-shot: Obama, media, libs & dems furiously scooping water from Obama’s boat.
Saturday’s snap-shot: Chris Matthews shoots Wright; Arianna Huffington calls Ballard to rescue Obama’s dinghy.
Etc., … etc…..
November 7th. snap-shot: McCain officially announced as the next US president.

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:03 pm Jay:

So you’re saying, Bozoer, that Obama lied about his grandmother, and that she never made any racist generalizations? Sorry, not buying it. We all have.

I will repeat: Obama wasn’t saying Wright & ol’ granny were the same, he was saying that people who matter to us can have flaws.

And to the fool who said above that no other black Democrat has a shot at being president, I say: give Cory Booker a few years.

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:09 pm Ken:

Wright wouldn’t be the first black preacher Hillary bought off….he just purchased a new house didn’t he???

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:27 pm Phelps:

Given the fact that Rev Wright served in the Military during an era under conditions in which minorities were classified as second-class citizens solely based on their ethnicity

Wright served from 61 to 67. The military was integrated in the late 40s (an integration is a damn sight more than desegregation.)

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:32 pm Night Owl:

Vince said:
“You’re a winner, Nightowl, willfully distorting the words of those with whom you disagree.”

If people are mistakenly interpreting (”distorting” in your view) Obama’s statement about his grandmother, then it’s his own fault. By accepting advice from someone known to spout bigoted statements, it can’t help but raise doubts about what he, Obama, believes. If his image has become distorted, he distorted it. That’s the whole point behind this controversy.

As to your assumption that I am a liar, it doesn’t warrant a serious response.

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:47 pm Denny, Alaska:

Do I understand correctly that Jeremiah is grooming his oldest son (Sen. Obama [D-Buyer’s Remorse]) for an executive position in his organization? You know, re-writing the hate speech bites to be a bit more palatable for the masses? And Michele will run the church’s day-care center?

No? No truth to all that?

Just wondering.

Apr 29, 2008 - 2:52 pm schnargley:

Today was a hallmark in the campaign of Barak Obama. The Kennedyesque poise, intelligence, nuance, and ability to navigate delicately between widely varied constituencies, like poor whites and oppressed blacks, between millions of privileged college kids and our compassionate, progressive media, show he has the right stuff to be leader of the free world. As a Harvard man, he fully undertsands the abject ignorance, the racial fear, the superstitious religionists and gun lovers that are out there who simply have not the faintest capacity to understand Rev. Wright and the context he speaks in. Neither do people like you, Roger - a rich, spoiled Jew raised under bourgoisie mentality - trying to grasp what it means to live under years of oppresion, having your race wiped out by AIDS and Kentucky Fried Chicken moguls. You have never suffered.

Apr 29, 2008 - 3:28 pm dirigible:

Obama’s campaign was always racial. He was careful to not say so himself, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t. O’s absurd claim to be post-racial is one of the things which marked him right off as just another snake-oil salesman.

Right now he’s up to another of his old tricks - he waits until after he’s caught with his pants down, and then tries to dissociate himself from whatever is deemed offensive, without specifying what it is. “You have an issue with one of my statements? Then I dissociate myself from … uh, whichever statement it was.” He never has to admit to anything, and he never fights for anything. He is a very timorous man. I’d guess that he’s browbeaten something awful at home. I just don’t see White House material in Obama.

But the Reverend has given us something useful - a good clear look at the face of American racism. But contrary to the tired old meme the Democrats and the professional race-baiters have been shovelling at us for three decades now, that face isn’t of some white guy - it’s of some Wright guy.

Apr 29, 2008 - 3:29 pm marnita:

Pagan,(4.29.08, 12:19pm)
Don’t use the IDIOT word to describe others when writing comments such as yours.
This is the definition of racism:
a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
There’s no black on white racism,the oppressor is usually racist, not the oppressed.
On your statement “Government created AIDS…Oh Pleeeaaazzze!
Research two things: Biological warfare and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. This will shed some light on what the government can do.

Apr 29, 2008 - 3:40 pm Ed Wallis:

“Vince” and “iceberg”, do you seriously still want to claim that the point Obama wanted to make in his “race” speech was that “people we love have deep flaws”?!?

Try learning to read:

THE OBAMBOOZLER himself: “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”

OH YES, and let’s not forget Obama’s remark about his grandmother being a “typical white person.”

Charlatan! And you are the apologists for a charlatan!

and…”schnargley”, one question: You DID inadvertantly forget to type “/sarc” after your post, didn’t you? I mean, “trying to grasp what it means to live under years of oppresion, having your race wiped out by AIDS and Kentucky Fried Chicken moguls.” is a weeeeeeeee bit absurd, suggesting that The Obamboozler does grasp the “oppression”…much less the KFC: you’d be more convincing if you had said Obama grasps the pain of the high price of arugula at Whole Foods.

Apr 29, 2008 - 4:14 pm John Moore:

For those who ask us to ignore Wright and focus on the “real issues” - GET REAL!

A very major issue is the character of a presidential candidate (although Democrats have been trying to ignore this, given the pathetic characters of Clinton and Kerry). Obama is showing himself to be at least an elitist, a political opportunist and a Clintonian liar. He has also demonstrated very bad judgement, with Right and with Ayers.

He is supposed to be highly intelligent (and appears to be). The reason he hangs out with these thugs is that he is out of touch with America and what it means to be American.

Why should anyone pay attention to the policy pronouncements of a person like this? Why would anyone want a president with that sort of judgement?

Apr 29, 2008 - 5:14 pm Jabba the Tutt:

I’ve been thinking that the Obama/Wright boil has the possibility of improving race relations, just not in they way Obama was implying early in his campaign. I think the Reverend Dr Wright dramatizes in an unmistakable way the racial double standard that we’ve had for 3 decades.

That double standard basically says that whites (especially non-liberal white males) are presumed guilty of racism. While the theory propounded by Larry King and others is that Blacks cannot be racist, because they don’t have power.

Imus’ loses his job, due to a failed joke. Rev Wright moves into a million dollar house for spouting his racist, anti-american bilge. Obama is neck deep in with Wright. He gets to run for President.

Civil Rights has degenerated into a race hustle. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of Americans have not gotten jobs or lost jobs due their race. Basta!

The games up, it’s a scam for all to see. Race is simply fodder for the race grievance industry. Let’s not mend, let’s end it.

Apr 29, 2008 - 6:21 pm RBC:

Thank you Julian!
I think this comment from a NYT article on Rev Wright sums up the REAL Black attitude towards Wright, Sharpton & his ilk:

I am an African American female physician executive and I am outraged by Reverend Wright’s behavior.It enforces every stereotype that people of African descent say about each other privately.There is nothing about him that resonates with me or represents my values and beliefs. Barack Obama’s candidacy is a threat to the old guard of the civil rights movement.After the death of MLK many of his close associates gained power, influence and prestige by their connection to him and trying to speak for the entire African-American community. Part of the “leadership” was to constantly re-inforce the message that black people cannot advance due to continued oppression and discrimination. Much of that is true, but not all of it. In Barack Obama we have a man who represents the promise of MLK’s dream and has overcome circumstances that many African-American leaders stated was not possible. In turn he has captured the imagination and hearts of many people that none the established leaders could. That… cannot be tolerated. So they have banded together to drag Obama down.They do not want change. They cannot embrace change.They have little relevance in the new millenium. They have not adapted themselves or their mission to these times. the style that worked in the 1960’s will not work in 2008 and beyond. This is a piece of the epic drama that no one wants to discuss. However, it is real.
Wright, Sharpton, Jackson, et al are jealous crabs in the barrel and are the tools of the Clinton campaign. May they all reap exponentially what they sow.

Apr 29, 2008 - 6:29 pm Gary Ogletree:

Marnita: Can’t buy your self-serving definition of racism. Every day we hear the charge of racism leveled against white people, often quite falsely over trivia like the word “niggardly,” We know black racism when we encounter it and I, for one, am getting fed up with our tolerance for it. To claim that only white people can be racist is a racist concept, part of the vast fantasy world of modern academia. If you’re living in the USA you are very unlikely to be suffering oppression. More fantasy in the land of spoiled brats. Try being a self-assertive woman in a traditional Muslim nation. You would find out what being oppressed really means.

Apr 29, 2008 - 6:47 pm DI54:

One can only wonder if Obama really divorced Wright - or if it is just another of many hidden agendas. With a campaign driven under the premise of change following the dictates of fascism, one can only wonder what remains if the redeemer ends up in the White House. Scary.

Apr 29, 2008 - 6:59 pm memomachine:

Hmmmmm.

@ David Wynn

“First, implying that the “chickens come home to roost” comment is Wright’s is preposterous. He was quoting an ambassador who borrowed the words from Malcolm X. That’s just flat out wrong.”

Completely and utterly false. A total fabrication, made up, fiction, fraud.

Ambassador Peck *never* said anything remotely like “chickens come home to roost”. It was Wright’s and Wright’s alone.

Apr 29, 2008 - 7:25 pm gordo:

I have been going back and forth on whether our country is better off having this Wright/Obama thing happening or not. I think its a good thing because it has never happened before. Therefore the truth has never been revealed. We are a strong country filled with people from everywhere with perspectives from far left to far right. But part of our core is slavery and from that came segregation and from that came Wright. So now we are seeing something that has not been revealed to the country at large - that is the feelings that many black people have regarding their country and how they have been treated. What comes from these revelations is truth. And when we have truth then frauds like Wright shrink in influence and we can begin to understand, for the first time, where a group of Americans stand. From there we have an opportunity to come together. So, let it happen, and then the race baiters and hate mongers like Wright, Farakkan, Sharpton, and Jackson will be diminished and out of the middle. Americans, of all stripes, seem to come together when the opportunists are finally debunked. The truth shall set us free.

Apr 29, 2008 - 7:38 pm Vince:

And it’s a pretty big leap, Nightowl, to simply believe that Obama is such an empty-headed jackass that he thinks Wright and his grandmother are the same. Do you really think he is that fundamentally stupid?

Finally, Schnargley, even if you’re just snarking, you’re still a tool.

Apr 29, 2008 - 8:13 pm Roger L Simon:

“And it’s a pretty big leap, Nightowl, to simply believe that Obama is such an empty-headed jackass that he thinks Wright and his grandmother are the same. Do you really think he is that fundamentally stupid?”

I don’t think he’s stupid at all, Vince. I think he’s quite smart. I just think he’s a fake and a liar. He asks us to believe a statement like this one today: “The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago,” as if a new Jeremiah Wright just sprung full born on the stage of the National Press Club. Vince, I know you think I am beyond redemption. So I won’t continue. Have a good evening.

Apr 29, 2008 - 8:34 pm Insufficiently Sensitive:

As a Harvard man, he fully undertsands the abject ignorance, the racial fear, the superstitious religionists and gun lovers that are out there who simply have not the faintest capacity to understand Rev. Wright and the context he speaks in.

Yeah, well, Obama can waltz between various racial and cultural groups and make nice cocktail conversation under undemanding circumstances. Given the enormous media puffery that has made him a celebrity despite any record of executive accomplishments nor Senate bills passed under his name, this is unsurprising. Other celebrities have little problem doing the same thing.

But, he’s running for chief executive of the leader of the free world, where he’d face some really demanding circumstances. There, the gift of blather is small potatoes measured against the setting of long-term policies, and necessity of defending the country against some really nasty customers all hastily acquiring nuclear weapons. Yes, yes, the media would fawn, and coo, and proclaim his every act a triumph, and bamboozle the public even further. But about the time his Jimmy Carter behavior internationally, and his anti-business regulations domestically, cause a noticeable decline in living standards, he’ll have to choose between a Bill Clinton weathervane act, or facing criticism that will make the inarticulate GW Bush look like FDR.

It takes more than a glib snooty Harvard dude to promote the general welfare of the US, and Obama hasn’t learned enough in his so far pampered career.

Apr 29, 2008 - 8:35 pm Vince:

Hi, Rog. So nice of you to grace us with your presence. Does your worldivew extend beyond “VOTE REPUBLICAN OR WE’LL ALL DIE!!!!!!!11111″?

It’d be nice if you offered an actual argument one day; meantime, go find a tinfoil fedora.

Apr 29, 2008 - 9:06 pm Jenn:

The problem is not that Barack Obama is black. The problem is that Barack Obama has revealed himself to be a total a**hole.

Apr 29, 2008 - 9:17 pm Typical White Person:

Amen.

Obama is sure in a pickle. The 90% black vote may even go lower after he threw his minister under the bus with Grannie.

You are so correct in your statement that the “race war” is WITHIN the black community. See article below in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

Hill District ministers defend remarks
By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Buzz up!
Post to MySpace!
StumbleUpon Toolbar

Sen. Barack Obama’s former pastor speaks the truth, speaks for the black church and speaks for some black Pittsburgh ministers, said the Rev. Thomas E. Smith, pastor of Monumental Baptist Church in the Hill District.

Smith cited one of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s most-publicized pronouncements, his description of the Sept. 11 terror attacks as “America’s chickens coming home to roost” due to U.S. foreign policies, as an example of one of those truths.

“Wright didn’t slam our country in any way,” said Smith, who has known Wright for about 20 years and considers him a friend. “He spoke about policies that put our country in jeopardy and human beings around the world in jeopardy.”

Remarks in recent days by Wright have riven the nation’s black community into opposing camps.

(snip)

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_564997.html

Apr 29, 2008 - 9:44 pm Mikielikes:

Mr. Ogletree -

Let’s not forget the Underground Railroad during the Civil War! What about the abolitionist movement from the founding of this great nation? Without Whitey liberation would have never taken place - period. What’s funny about much of what Rev. Wright speaks of in terms of slavery is that these race baiters fail to properly educate Black-Americans about what slavery was really about - business. Oh, there was plenty of African tribes doing business with the Portuguese in terms of human cargo and making a bundle in the process. They don’t count that historical fact though - that would negate their race baiting schemes

Apr 29, 2008 - 11:09 pm Believer:

If anyone missed reading “dirigible’s” comments at 3:29pm - go back and read them. They’re spot on.

Apr 30, 2008 - 9:13 am TO:

This is in response to Olivia. Oh, Olivia comments like these enrage me. If you are not African or African American how can you say that “All those arguments about the systemic racism sound hollow to the African immigrants who speak english with thick accents and worked their way up the ladder the good old fashion way’? You can not speak for Africans that willingly come to this country and you certainly do not respect those arguments because you cannot comprehend them. I guess that you can say that I am a middle class woman because I own my home, car and make approximately $75,000. Oh, by the way, I am an Africn American that was born here. My grandmother did not have a job because she was uneducated and stayed home to raise her children. Back then racism was overwhelming. My grandfather, who was educated, worked wherever many racist caucassions that owned companies at that time would allow him to just to feed his family. He was often called names, belittled, spit on and often took jobs that either did not pay him his worth or that he was over qualified for. The mental abuse, which can last forever, was much worse than physical. Physical pain can go away, however, mental abuse can and does last forever. My grandparents raised five children in low-income housing, better known as “the projects”. None of those five children spent a day of their adult lives in “the projects” but went on to graduate from college and have successful careers. Four of them own their own homes, have multiple cars, and have sizable bank accounts. I am the product of one of those children. My mother married and divorced young. She raised three children, all of whom completed college and have careers. People like you do not realize the struggle for equality that my grandfather, grandmother had to fight for that affected their lives and in turn affected their childrens’ lives and so on. The affects of systematic slavery is still part of my life as my grandmother, unfortunately, always felt that white people were superior and African Americans/Africans were inferior. That mindset carried on to therr children, carried on to me and other African Americans and is still present in a lot of our communities. Mental abuse can be and is worse than physical abuse. When you are constantly oppressed physically and mentally practically all of you life, you pass it on to your children and so it passes from generation to generation. Does that make any sense to you?

Apr 30, 2008 - 9:14 am Believer:

Oh, my gosh, now I’ve just read “schnargley’s” comments! He/she can’t be for real! Tell me it’s a joke.

Apr 30, 2008 - 9:18 am Angry African:

Isn’t this the time when people are supposed to say what they stand for? Obama says that and people attack instead of defining what they are. And shouldn’t America vote for what they want to be? Maybe people should start thinking about what they stand for. A very novel idea. Supporting someone for what they stand for. Mmmm. Think about it for a minute. Supporting someone for what they stand for. And not because you don’t like the other options. Supporting something because of what it means. Something positive. Not hatred of the other, but belief in this one.
http://angryafrican.net/2008/04/30/stand-up-for-it/

Apr 30, 2008 - 11:00 am david levavi:

As an armchair spectator to the Democratic primary race I’m genuinely impressed by both contenders for the nomination. I like them both a lot more than I liked them at the beginning.

I started out contemptuous of Clinton. I gained sympathy for her as Obama showed his stuff came up unexpectedly from the outside. Finally Clinton earned my respect by gathering her strength and responding.

Obama is a magnificent performer. Audacious. Cool under fire. Thoughtful and articulate. And now, wonder of wonders, when cornered and left no other option, he turns and shows he has teeth. Booting Wright took courage. The old witch-doctor will surely have his revenge.

I’d vote for Clinton if she wasn’t irredeemably elitist-left. If she were more reliably committed to vigorous, long term of national security strategies abroad and less reliably committed to government solutions at home.

Obama remains tainted. Credible only the willfully credulous. I’ll believe Obama when he goes before the cameras and states plainly that Black Liberation Theology is fascist, racist, shame-based shuck.

(BLT is a big, messy sandwich of Catholic-Marxism [Marxist-Catholicism?] cooked up by [white] Latin American Jesuits called Liberation Theology; African Theology, an Afro-Protestant amalgam of ostensible “African religious traditions” and traditional [white] Christianity and; African-American Christianity both Protestant and Catholic.)

I’ll vote for Obama when he publicly elaborates on some of his wife’s startling comments about what life would be like for us ordinary Americans under President Obama. Just how radical are these changes Obama plans that according to Ms Obama won’t allow any of us us to remain complacent? What are these pro-grams Mr. Obama has in store for us? Will lazy stick-in-the-muds like me have to report for re-education?

Apr 30, 2008 - 11:52 am Night Owl:

Vince:
I decided your assumption I was a liar deserved a thoughtful response after all,(probably because I have a tendency to over think things, in particular criticism thrown at me).

It’s true Obama’s politics lean too far to the left for my taste, and perhaps by election day I would have decided that I could not vote for him on that basis. However you are wrong to say I am a liar about being behind him up until his grandma statement. Here’s why.

I was being racist. I was willing to back Obama simply because I had hope that electing a man of color as president would heal some of the racial wounds in this country. Wounds that I felt growing up in a mixed race family. I was willing to over look his leftist/marxist ideologies in favor of this concept of hope. I was aware that all the “yes we can” hype was just a bunch of crap, but I didn’t care. I wanted to see the Sharptons, Jacksons and Wrights of the world put in their place. A stupid reason to back a candidate, I agree, but I’ve never really been an ideologue. I’m a vacillating independent thinker, who at times can be quite indecisive in my attempt to see every side of an issue.

When he made that typical white person statement it was like a hypnotist snapping his fingers in your face and you wake up from a spell. I saw him in a new light, for the first time clearly, warts and all. Like I said, it’s possible, and even likely that something else would have caused me to turn away from him by election time. But your assumptions about me are based on a simplistic view of people; that they are all either conservative or liberal, left or right. My own voting record (I am a registered independent) is all over the place, and I have only voted for a Republican president once in the 20+ years I have been voting.

There are a lot of people who barely pay attention to politics. For example there are people in my own family who have never heard of Rev. Wright. These moderate independents are often the ones who decide elections. They are the ones Obama must court. They are the ones for whom character trumps ideology. And they are the ones he will lose if they become convinced he is a phony huckster at best , or a deceitful bigot at worst.

Apr 30, 2008 - 12:04 pm Rich:

Only on the left are people “___” Americans, Everyone on the right is an American. The left seams to want to keep everyone segregated or separated catering to each and ever “___” group this insures there loyalty to the party by making them dependant upon them. Every time you cater to one Group of “___” Americans you make another mad and/or jealous causing conflict in this nation. Taking away from one group to give to another seams to give the perception that they care about there “___” group when in reality all there doing is buying there loyalty at the expense of others.
It is time people start being accountable for there actions “____” Americans get nowhere when the try not to fit into society. Whether your White, Black or Hispanic, etc. if you walk around trying to fit in with your own group or acting like a gangster rapper or the pothead dude your more than likely not going to succeed in America (unless your on MTV or something).
I think bill Cosby said it best to his “___” Americans but his “___” American group was outraged by it, I think the same applies to every “___” Group.

Apr 30, 2008 - 12:41 pm Believer:

Night Owl,

You are one of the loveable ones.

Yours is a voice needed to be heard by people like Vince. I hope they’re listening.

There is not a lie in you.

Apr 30, 2008 - 1:38 pm Vince:

Nighty,

So, one comment (made in a lousy interview with Philadelphia AM sports guys, I thought I’d add), disappears your stupid idea that you’d vote for a guy based on his race, and you imply I am a simple-minded bigot?

What nerve you have. Unlike you, I never once thought of voting for Obama based on race. A huge reason for me, actually, is his work with backbencher Dick Lugar on loose nukes.

And nice try flaunting the high-and-mighty “independent” line. My assumptions about you are based on the nature of this blog(led by a man, Roger Simon, who has at turns implied that Obama is a secret bin Ladenist and an anti-Semite) and its comments section which, by its tone, seems to lead to the domination of discussions, rather than the fostering of them.

John McCain is a good man whose 2000 candidacy electrified me, but he’s going to have to go a long way to recapture that fire. McCain Obama should be quite a thing to watch.

Apr 30, 2008 - 3:38 pm Believer:

Night Owl:

Vince has neither the ears to hear, nor the eyes to see. And I’m sorry for him.

I’m also sorry for Mr. Obama. Had he taken the time, as you have, to look into his own heart for his motivations; and been as honest as you’ve been - with himself and us - this election might have traveled a far different path.

Apr 30, 2008 - 5:01 pm Javelin:

I can’t help but despise someone who would criticize his dead grandmother, who helped raised him, for her realistic fear of black men, when it was his black father who ran off on him. Reverend Wright’s rant, which he thought worthy to film and sell on DVD, exposed to most of the unwashed, the mentality of the average black leftist.
I am watching Jon Stewart on CC “discussing” Reverned Wright, trying to minimize him with comparisons to certain notorious white clergy. Trouble is that Pat Robertson got raked over the coals many times for stupid stuff he said/ Yet when this crackpot spewer of racist conspiracy lies, not theories, gets some negative press, then went out and made an ass of himself again and again, trying to be some Farrakhan 2 the Xtian, Jon’s hip irony was there to defend him. Anyone with any brains or morals wathching Wright defend Farrakhan with some irrelevant slave metaphors had to have puked all over the tube. That man is a disgrace and I hope not only will he torpedo Obama, but expose the whole black left for the crackpot, sleazy morons they are/

Apr 30, 2008 - 10:22 pm Night Owl:

Thanks Believer;

We are all products of our upbringings and are full of different biases and preconceptions. I’m no different. I try to be honest about it, especially to myself, which is often the hardest thing of all to do.

And Obama is no different. I feel for Obama. Growing up mixed race must have been hell at times for him. I understand his need to fit in somewhere as he grew up, in his search for an identity.

I think the reason I was so stung by his comments about his grandma, was that I believed he was better than that. Maybe I’m being too hard on him regarding that statement. It’s hard to be objective when emotions are so strong. (Like I said- I can be very wishy-washy.)

May 1, 2008 - 9:45 am Cobb:

I wrote this six weeks ago. It’s still true:

You might all do well to find out the nature of African American opinion that is not knee-jerkily seduced by Obama’s rhetoric or candidacy. I for one have been a McCain supporter since Fred Thompson quit, but it doesn’t change my feeling that a large number of Right critics have protested too much. As I have said, no honest supporter or critic of Obama should view his candidacy as a referendum on American race relations, and yet here is the full bloom of dishonest ‘disinterest’ bending over backwards to demonstrate absolute faith that Wright is a prima facia racist and that black strains of liberation theology is the coming of the Fourth Reich. Is there anyone serious at all in this criticism, people who have, perhaps read Obama’s book?

Calmer heads will realize that the materiality of Wright’s bigotry is nothing more or less than offensive speech for oversensitized people who feel like they have to claim their race and gender victimhood validated. All those who last week were telling us that Multiculturalism was crap are now reminding us that they are white men. I said to hell with those afraid of Imus and I say to hell with those afraid of Wright.

It is an embarrassment to see people who have in the past three years, written perhaps 1000 words or less about the black church in America suddenly appear so prescient.

All that said, while I am not particularly interested in the worst soundbites of the past two decades played out in excruciating detail any more than I am in finding out what Spitzer’s professional paramour actually looks like - I do recognize where the outrage is coming from. Jeremiah Wright is outrageous. As somebody who has spent several years asking whitefolks if they were willing to make racism illegal, I understand fairly well what people consider crime and what they consider piling on. Some consistency would be in order. This is class three racism. Next.

May 1, 2008 - 5:42 pm Talnik:

Re: Gates of Vienna; after this post, shouldn’t you ban yourself? I used to respect you, Roger.

May 4, 2008 - 7:26 am Roy49:

You know Vince, some people just have their heads in the sand and just won’t pull it out! You are one of those people. I won’t go into any far fetched flamings but, you are way off track in your insinuations about race in America and Senator Obama. What he is offering is for the courageous, for those who have the heart to move beyond just dreams, and into realms never experienced in American history. He can deliver us out of this mess we are in. And America is in dire need of deliverence. Clinton cannot. McCain will not. Senator Obama is the one this country has been waiting for…he is the light. “Step into the Light”.

May 30, 2008 - 8:11 am

Write a Comment

Name:	(required, displayed)
Email:	(required, not publicized)
URL:	(optional, displayed) remember personal info?
Comments: