24 Comments

Dear Professor,

It’s disturbing that you get so much harsh criticism. You’re fair- you routinely publish ‘angry’ mail on your other site to give it voice and offer an individual response.

That’s why I like this site better. That angry mail makes me angry. If the fairness doctrine happens, I’ll probably turn off talk radio too rather than listen to the left.

But in the past few weeks you’ve instructed Obama on what to say that would help him as well as given him or anyone else good policy suggestions - again you’ve given him help.

You’ve earned your bona fides for being balanced and it’s not easy being balanced when the Reverend builds a million dollar house in a 98% white neighborhood.

The writers on the left…Frank Rich?…I really don’t know their names…Olberman? I wonder if they receive the same kind of written vitriol -not to mention secrity at lectures- as conservatives. Hardly I’m sure. I always thought they’d just get wry, sarcastic condescention like from a Buckley, Steyn, or a Dennis Miller.

As long as there are liberals, black folk, and even half black folk, can get away with spewing racial hatred and then justifying it with stuff that happened a long time ago. Its all done to hide their failings and to blame others.

I dont want someone as my President who wants change yet cant take a stand on anything that requires real decision making. Its especially sad that he cant denounce a racist in the black community because he likely agrees with him or cant afford to say he disagrees. And this is a person who we might elect as our President!! We arent talking about the leadership of some local NAACP branch.

Whats scary is that we have a nation of white people, half of which would vote for a racist black(and the only racist blacks I know are liberal Bush haters) yet would be the first to denounce a racist white. This sure leads us down a path that is going to create a real race war as the percentage of whites in this country decreases further and the percentage of blacks, made up mostly of illegitimate uneducated violent criminals, continues to increase. Pretty soon this whole country will be like New Orleans. Until then Montana and Idaho will slowly become overpopulated with the remaining whites, even the ones who hate cold weather. Scary.

Thank you for the reasoned and erudite discussion of this issue. I believe, and have said so to my Obamaniac friends that all he would have to do is to state that no right thinking person should hold the views Rev. Wright has espoused. The rest of the things that Wright has done in his community may be laudable and may have drawn Obama to the church, but the ideas Barack has tried to rationalize away should be as unacceptable to him as they are to those of us who take the classical liberal view.

Asking us to listen to the Rev. Wright’s comments in context is just so much baloney. The man is above all else a performer. He knows what his audience wants to hear. Is it any surprise that a good showman rakes in the bucks?

What then can we make of Mr. Obama’s membership in this church? Surely the erudite and sophisticated senator doesn’t buy this nonsense. But Mr. Obama doesn’t mind using Rev. Wright’s congregation to earn his street creds. Could it possibly be that Mr. Obama is just another cynical politician? Occam’s razor suggests precisely that.

The pity is that Mr. Obama’s charisma and rhetorical skills have been put to use for self-serving ends. In this regard he reminds me of Bill Clinton. Mr. Obama is very impressive when he has a prepared speech. True enough. But the facade might crack if the press can get to him in an unguarded moment. Then will the fraud be revealed.

Here I am a teacher/coach of twenty years reading about another aspect of Rev. Wright’s lavish lifestyle (10,000 square foot house). What am I to think? This guy is a disgrace and the fact that he was aloud to pontificate for so long is sad. All the hateful lessons he taught his flock will take another twenty years to break down. I just can’t get out of my mind the fact that Obama was a member of this church for twenty years. What was he thinking? I just hope there are more people (than not) in the USA teaching, “Do not judge a book by it’s cover, but when you have read the insides and it is racist, throw it away”!

1. Race hustlers like Rev. Wright try to frame the conflict as “people of color” vs. whitey. This may sell among parts of the black community on the south side of Chicago, but most “people of color” ain’t buying. Instead they are mainly focused on trying to live the American dream (”middle classedness” according to Wright). And perhaps most important, they (along with plenty of whites) are voting with their reproductive organs for a society where the term “people of color” is destined to have little meaning. Does anyone think Rev. Wright’s message has much appeal for Hispanics, East Asians, Indians, …?

2. Obama has set back race relations many years. Now when interacting with a black person, I wonder if he is a believer of the Rev. Wright nonesense/hatred. Those thoughts didn’t cross my mind prior to Obama’s attempts to excuse the inexcusable.

3. The one item that really makes my skin crawl is Obama’s raising his children in this church. This has such negative emotional force that it’s difficult to describe with words. It’s like a punch to the gut.

Many honors to you sir!

Again, I look to your columns for clarity on our national condition. I think what bothers me the most about Wright, Obama, and Clinton is what their success says about the intellectual fiber of the people. This was the opinion of Michael Savage. I do not agree with all he says but he is most succinct in his condemnation of the people as the “sheeple.” Daily I spend 30 minutes doing my cardiovascular in a graveyard which includes the graves of about 1000 Civil War veterans. I stop by the grave of a Civil War Major General and greet his spirit. If I told you whom you would know where I walk. I say a prayer that these men’s spirits please forgive us as a people for dishonoring their memories and I thank them for their gifts to us. Two of these graves are for Medal of Honor winners and one is an unknown fallen Union trooper from Gettysburg found here after the battle. There is also a monument to the memory of a local seaman lost in the U.S. Indianapolis sinking which monument is next to the graves of his parents. There are also graves of Revolutionary War, War of 1812,, War with Mexico, Spanish American, World Wars I and II, Korea, and Viet Nam veterans. In two months, all these graves will be decorated with a small American flag courtesy of the local VFW/American Legion Posts. The cemetery then erects a field of 4000 or so small flags for all the dead of the current war against Islam. It is a sight that will evoke tears in the eyes of a lover of America and her history. Surely, today, as a country we can do better. The adults in America must move forward keeping their mouths shut, keeping the lessons of history ever in mind, and dauntlessly resolute in their purpose to make an adult informed choice on election day.

God bless,
An ultra-conservative 68 year old lawyer who does no criminal defense nor tort work.

i think that obama , in the deep, quiet moments of the middle of the night, doesnt really believe the placating remarks he broadcasts concerning the ruckus preacher wright has injected into his campaign are working. why? because we see nothing of the vociferous churchman these days. here in texas he cancelled a number of appearences in and around dallas and houston last week. the reason given was that the preacher’s life had been threatened. when that was quickly dis proven his spokesman was somewhat embarrassed. (note: that fact never escaped local news status). originally, the chatty preacher was supposed to linger on at trinity church, until the middle of the summer, giving the odd “sermon” or two. has anyone seen him?? and obama and company decamped chicago at easter (so he didnt have to show up in church that sunday?hmmm?). i’d like to know when that trip was planned.

as long as preacher wright remains dissappeared, and michelle is kept on an extremely short leash (as she has been since the middle of february), we can know that the obama campaign understands, deep down, that this episode is not over, it is not contained, it will not be forgotten, it is not going away, it will make plenty of difference in the final reckonning.

Why write about the presumptive Democratic candidate for the Presidency of your country, indeed!

What nerve, what absolute gall…to think that a national writer on issues of such little importance as insights into the character, worldview, and belief system of our potential future leader would be worthy of your time and efforts. How could you?

This is the continuing dance of the mating swans that is being played out inside the tent of the Obamarama Mystery Tour.

“Look over here…no, not over there…look over here…don’t look over there”.

It seems if the attention is fawning and sychophantic, it’s welcome. Anything deeper, it’s malevolent by definition.

What rubbish. And what is worse, the parade of moral equivocations is incessant.

Granny Dunham’s ALLEGED “fear” of faceless, black males in Hawaii, (which she apparently exhibited quietly and intermixed with love and affection for Sen. Obama), is somehow parellelized with Rev. Wright’s histrionics that white supremacists in the government created the AIDS virus to infect people of color.

Yep…I see how those could be of equal moral weight. No, really…it’s a serious, valid, understandable point from the boy you raised with your own loving hands, Granny. Right?

Now, I admit that I have to use my “garlic nose” to know whether something passes the smell test, but that simply doesn’t.

Did Granny preach that one race of people were deserving of murder after 9-11? Did Granny lionize a hatemonger, who called the Jewish faith a “gutter religion”?

Senator Obama has enjoyed a honeymoon with the MetaStasisMedia that has not only avoided vetting his thin resume’ but has overtly prevented inquiry into his positions, policies, predilections and his past in general. Whether it be with Rezco, Wright, Ayers, Dorhn, Malley, Brzezinski…or his extremist left voting record…we simply are told “don’t look over here”.

What we have received from them, is a sanitized, scrubbed and shrink-wrapped version of AbraCadabraObama, the Magician who can transform before your very eyes. He is whatever you need him to be, based solely upon your own virtual reality.

It appears that numerous people are enthralled with voting for the candidate that Senator Obama is pretending to be.

There’s a lesson in that, perhaps that’s what we should examine more closely.

So, VDH…you are ruining the party with all this vetting you are doing.

Please don’t interrupt my fantasies with all this reality business. For you and Granny…hop on the bus, or be thrown under it.

Cmon now….say it loud, I’m opaque and I’m proud.

One of the largely unspoken requirements for anyone who professes to be a “healer” is to actually engage in the practice of healing. Rev. Wright’s willingness to invoke preposterous and surrealistic claims of outrageous grievance is itself a form of theological malpractice.

Unless the man is delusional or psychotic, how can anyone who professes to be a minister of any religion stand before his congregation and state flatly that the government of this country developed A.I.D.S. as a weapon against one particular race – incredible.

Defending the indefensible is always an awkward enterprise. Obama has tried to thread the needle by embracing Wright one moment then scolding him for intemperance and poor word choice the next. Obama even tried to explain away Wright’s bombast by pointing at the media and using the cherry-picking argument in the vain hope that white-liberal angst would silence critics. Yet, that line of reasoning failed when the sheer volume of Wright’s more colorful rants overwhelms even the most charitable observers.

Obama made a political calculation years ago that his fortunes would be advanced by appearing sympathetic to Wright’s cause. While that may have been true for his more localized endeavors, it could well turn out to be a serious miscalculation nationally.

All politics is local – unless you’re running for president.

See,we still need that “conversation on race” in this country…..after John McCain is elected president. If Obama becomes the Democratic nominee and loses to McCain in the general election, conditions will be perfect to hold just such a conversation. Imagine what it would be like. Half of America and most of Europe would initially be reconfirmed in their belief that we are an irredeemably racist society. Then, on further examination of the election results, it would be shown that tens of millions of white Americans (almost half) actually voted for a black man to be their president. They based their votes on his ideals, charisma and political beliefs. For them, race was not a factor. As expected, ninety percent of black Americans voted for the same candidate, confirming again that his appeal to this demographic is racially motivated. Both groups of voters, however, realized too late that their candidates association with a black racist preacher for twenty years made the difference in this close election. This, despite evidence that few Americans of any political persuasion believed Obama held such racist views himself. A majority of voters simply could not reconcile his campaign rhetoric of change with the reality on the ground in Southside Chicago. Was his previous attachment to Reverend Wright merely posturing for political acceptance among black voters? Was that why they voted overwhelmingly for him? How tragic that such a brilliant natural politician, a living example of Plato’s philosopher-king, felt compelled years ago to enter public life via such a plebian racist political culture. It would seem in retrospect that racial politics,of his own making, cost him the election.

And in that election, the contrast with McCain could not have been greater. His supporters voted their conscience, rejecting the notion that doing so was racist, as some had implied. They were never concerned their candidate could be accused of racist affiliations. Affectation was never part of his political persona. His life was an open book, and they all knew his biography, just as the other side thought they knew their candidate’s. McCain’s campaign portrayed him as the product of that most egalitarian of American institutions, the United States military. He preached a philosophy of unifying the country around our common purpose, and downplayed our divisiveness. His model for the ideal society was that portrayed by our United States soldiers and sailors. They come together from all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life, put aside their differences and learn to live, fight and die side by side to protect all of us. He reminded us that he was not one of those whose life was scarred by the race and gender battles of the 60s, that he had survived that era politically unfettered and psychologically unscathed (by being tied up elsewhere). Furthermore, voters for McCain were found to strongly believe that combating racism begins at home. They could not understand why anyone would expose his young children to the lies of a racist demagogue. They contrasted this with their candidate’s evident pride in his adopted South Asian daughter, the one whose dark skin color led to the vilest of rumors being circulated during his first run for the presidency. McCain’s victory reassured his supporters that America had moved beyond that despicable racist episode in the 2000 primary. And as a consequence we now have a president who knows from PERSONAL experience the awfully destructive power of race-baiting in our society.

So after the election let us have that conversation on race in America. Perhaps black Americans will realize just how costly it is to them to have prominent black leaders such as Rev Wright continue to espouse racist ideas about white people being the bane of their existence. Perhaps they will look across that great racial divide, the one kept alive more than ever in their own communities, and realize the significance of millions of white people from all regions of the country voting for a black man, despite his own past and continuing association with a racist. And maybe, just maybe, black Americans will realize that chaining themselves to the Democratic Party, with its predilection for identity politics and its penchant for holding do-nothing conversations about race, is a losing proposition in presidential elections. Even for a candidate as impressive as Barack Obama. Bring on that conversation.

Obama’s speech on Rev. Wright and race has resulted in a situation I have dreaded for some time: people who held ‘racist’ views and were kept out of the mainstream of American society, now have reason to believe that their views are worthy of consideration. Case in point, David Duke (former?) member of the KKK, called in to the Mark Davis Radio Show (WBAP AM 820)here in Dallas last week to express his views on the whole Rev Wright mess. Many of the observations that Duke made were no different than those of many other callers previous to his. The only comments he made that some may consider ‘classic’ David Duke were his comments on standing up for the rights of European-Americans. Given the comments made by Rev Wright, Duke’s comments were, by contrast, tame.
That ‘Feel-Good’ effect that Obama’s speeches seem to have over so many people, has had the unintended consequence of making people such as David Duke (and others like him) ‘feel good’ about their views.
If Rev Wright’s views are not thoroughly dis-credited (as they should be), then we can expect more David Dukes to hit the mainstream in the coming years. There may be someone who can bring the races together, but judging by the events of the past few week, Obama is not “The One”

At the memorable “Cut and Paste Historical” speech in Philly given by the Black Impostor Savior HUSSEIN he made sure with ALL his HATE for America that there are PLENTY of America Flag - EIGHT HUGE American Flags to be specific - to hide in their midst while INSULTED America as only a TRUE HATER-TRAITOR of America DARE to. He did it right there in Philly – and Americans were silent!!! I’m sure our Forefathers turned in their graves seeing that no American STANDS up for America anymore. I fear much for America’s future seeing all these activities…

Who really is this Impostor who after 9/11 discarded the American lapel fag as useless symbol, who was protecting his “precious parts” with both hands having something to do NOT to honor the national hymn as all good Americans do holding their hand on heart when it is played!
Is anyone checking out who is this fanatic to “his faith”?
This Judah sold his grandma with ease BUT not his revered! The revered he knows nothing about - as he often insisted– but, hey Hussein loves his revered anyway!
How idiotic he could be and how BLIND America could be!!
The Impostor MUST revealed – AND STOPED. Liberal media works overtime to hide this Impostor in the heart of Whites! Finding relatives as Dick Chaney, Brad Pitt even though Hussein gives a ___ on all the whites including his white grandma who brought him up!
Who ARE his BLACK relatives? How comes he has NO Black relative among elite? Is OSAMA Bin Laden his uncle?!

Ok. You may say I’m mean and he is a nice guy and media has America’s interests at heart, right?!
Let’s say that Obama sincerely had no idea of what was going on behind his back in his church.
If after more than 20 YEARS Barack Hussein Obama had NO CLUE of what kind of people gather at his church and what “his mentor” believes in - HE IS THE MOST IDIOTIC person ever on Earth!!! Somebody tell him that in the White House there is MORE than a church to figure out – more than 10 SQ Miles to keep track of!
If for 5,000 people Obama needed 20 years to learn what they are saying about America when in the White House he has ONLY in America 300 Millions people – let aside the entire planet - for America alone OBAMA needs 60,000 years to figure out what Americans are up to behind his back! And if you want to be real cruel tell him - that even AFTER 23 years he didn’t figure it out on hi sown until Fox News ENLIGHTENED him!

Professor:

You wrote an article about how we ended up with Obama.

My own take is that for decades we’ve been smothered in ersatz emotion from Disney, Spielberg, Hallmark, and whatever manufacturer or retail outfit wants out business.

We’re living in a giant Wal-Mart commercial now, and Obama is the perfect Wal-Mart candidate. The surface schmaltz hides a sinister, ruthless, all-business quality shared by all of these purveyors of fake good cheer.

I just watched Spielberg’s “AI” last night for the first time, and it was unbearable.

Obama is a Spielberg creation, but only superficially. Inside, he’s as calculating as Michael Eisner or any other cold-eyed businessman.

Let me add another one to the ‘positive’ mail stack. Your writing on Obama/Wright, along with Shelby Steele’s, is the best being done on the subject.

To same time, I’ll add my thoughts in the form of some excerpts from a blog post I wrote after Obama’s big speech:

Obama has certainly squeezed every last ounce of usefulness out of Pastor Wright. For years he used Wright and Trinity Church to cement his position in the world of Chicago faith-politics, and now that the pastor’s extensive canon of race-baiting and hate-preaching has come to light he’s used him one last time – and to spectacular effect.

Cynical though I am about pretty much every aspect of Obama’s campaign, I can’t believe that, as Obama and his family sat and listened while Wright regaled his flock with a litany of America’s sins [...] Obama thought he would one day be able use the pastor’s indiscretions to his own advantage.

[...]

And certainly, when Wright’s words emerged to threaten his Presidential bid, Obama knew exactly what to do with them: he took the pastor’s appeals to the basest of anti-American and racially divisive instincts, and leveraged them into an appeal for unity

[...] shortly after insisting that “race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now” he declared that it was time to stop talking about race, and move on. He even managed to get in a plug for his book.

Think about it: Obama earned himself wall-to-wall media coverage by making a speech about race which he might not have had the opportunity to make had he not at best acquiesced in, and at worst connived at, Wright’s long history of racist demagoguery.

Jimbo said,

1. Race hustlers like Rev. Wright try to frame the conflict as “people of color” vs. whitey. This may sell among parts of the black community on the south side of Chicago, but most “people of color” ain’t buying. Instead they are mainly focused on trying to live the American dream (”middle classedness” according to Wright). And perhaps most important, they (along with plenty of whites) are voting with their reproductive organs for a society where the term “people of color” is destined to have little meaning. Does anyone think Rev. Wright’s message has much appeal for Hispanics, East Asians, Indians, …?

Sorry, that dog don’t hunt here Jimbo.

“People of color” have to do more than just quietly say to themselves “he doesn’t represent my beliefs.”

I’m not giving them a pass any more on anything. They have to rise up and demand Obama’s refutation of the evil preacher.

When David Duke began his ascendency in the 1990s, the Republican party loudly and vocally declared himself persona-non-gratta and rightly so.

Now the entire Democratic Party is as quiet as a church mouse and afraid to condem the hate speech and one of its finanical supporters (Obama has given the evil preacher over $20,000 dollars in one year!).

By not coming out and condemming Obama and Wright they are tacitly supporting them

I for one will not treat the Blacks as children like the Democrats do, I will demand they act like adults and clean their own house of the hatred that we don’t tolerate. If they don’t dissociate themselves from Obama, the Apologist of hate, then they are throwing their lot in with him, and for that they will have lost my good-will.

I have only one thing to say:

How can we expect Muslim Americans to reject extremism when we don’t even require our presidential candidates to do it?

We must all refuse to place community above conscience.

Ah yes, a conversation on race in America. We certainly haven’t had any of that in recent years.

Recently, I’ve heard various and sundry Wright apologists claiming that his obvious racism and hatred is not only explainable, but is in fact inoffensive because it is part and parcel of the “prophetic tradition” of preaching in black churches. On NPR the other day, a (self identified) gentleman of color suggested that this tradition consists of “five or six” individual steps or components, “give or take a few,” and went on about how “God Damn America” and similar statements of patriotism and respect for America are essential components of the prophetic tradition, which, of course, the average white person, due to their inherent racism, cannot possibly understand.

Well. I’ve read Isiah, and I’ll paraphrase here when I say that Isiah observed that woe will be unto him who calls evil good and good evil. If there is any essential part of the prophetic tradition it is absolute clarity on issues of right and wrong. Racism, hatred for one’s country and countrymen and vile hate are always and everywhere wrong, and attempts to explain away evil always put one in league with evil.

Some also wonder why Obama didn’t leave the church if he was offended by Wright’s spoutings. Could it be because he was just another parisioner who sat in the pews, or rose to his feet, shouting “amen,” or nodding appreciatively when Wright spewed his venom, week after week? Could it be because Obama agreed with Wright? When one doesn’t agree with the theology of a church as expressed through its ministers, rituals and dogma, one leaves. Obama did not. Could it be that simple?

You are, Dr. Hanson, absolutely correct. We cannot allow anyone a pass on this kind of discourse. That Obama would not only allow it, but likely enshrine it in law should he become president says all I need know about his character.

Rev. Wright long ago figured out how to make a lot of money peddling, I mean preaching, hate.

A key question: has the founding covenant Lincoln called Americans to heal in his 2nd Inaugural been restored?

Rev. Wright’s references to three-strike laws and rampant growth in incarceration show that he thinks not. He invokes Biblical language in his condemnation: others have reminded us that MLK did so as well in 1968: “God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. … And we are criminals in that war.” King portrayed a divinity who said, “And if you don’t stop your reckless course, I’ll rise up and break the backbone of your power.”

And for this, he was assailed as heartily as Wright is today.

A fine essay by Philip Gorski, “Class, Nation, and Covenant,” reminds us that people who consider themselves chosen too often forget this covenantal obligation, and portrays Obama as seeking to restore “civil religion.” It’s worth a look:

http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/03/21/class-nation-and-covenant/

Dan Tompkins

Pastor Wright is not an ignorant man and neither is Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University.

Recently I yelled at my TV when Dr. Hill made a flagrantly false comment about the Tuskegee Experiment. Here is a very educated man who is a professor and is a regular guest on television talk shows. Yet he espouses conspiracy theories.

Mr. Obama’s Pastor, Reverend Wright is inclined to blame the introduction of AIDS in the African-American community on the government where as Dr. Hill declares that drugs in the black community and that the syphilis infecting the African-American men in the Tuskegee Experiment were caused by the American government. The flawed and unethical Tuskegee Experiment’s facts are well documented, but one apparently doesn’t have to become educated on the facts if conspiracy theories are the current rage in one’s peer group and community.

While the men in the Tuskegee Experiment were diagnosed as having syphilis before becoming part of the study that started in 1932 and lasted until 1972, allowing those men to be denied penicillin in the 1940’s once that treatment regiment was found to possibly cure syphilis was criminal. Unfortunately no criminal charges were ever made from what I have read.

Shifting to today, men such as Dr. Hill and Reverend Wright have a high standing in their community and as such have the moral duty to speak the truth, not what garners them admiration among those who have distain for our country. Apparently they do not have the moral courage to stand up to the public and community pressures as some African- American do; Mr. Cosby immediately comes to mind; shame on those who lack this courage.

I have also noticed that few of those who have the bully pulpit in their grasp in today’s America, regardless of race, seem to have any shame. I know, shame is just so passe’.

By the way, there is considerable evidence that the US government/AIDS conspiracy originally was a Soviet disinformation effort.

Unfortunately, disseminating or publicly upholding such falsehoods does not narrow our country’s racial divide and does nothing to make America a better place for all of its citizens. In my opinion, it widens that divide.

Bowden Russell said,

Sorry, that dog don’t hunt here Jimbo.

“People of color” have to do more than just quietly say to themselves “he doesn’t represent my beliefs.”

I’m not giving them a pass any more on anything. They have to rise up and demand Obama’s refutation of the evil preacher.
————————————-

Bowden - I fully agree with you and apologize for not making my point perfectly clear. I’ll try again. Those BLACKS who are neither racists nor America haters should demand that Obama refute Rev. Wright. However, other “PEOPLE OF COLOR” (IMHO a term used by race hustlers to imply they represent a larger group than is actually the case) don’t have to do anything. Hispanics, Asians, Indians, etc. can just give Obama & Wright the middle finger salute and vote for McCain. Hope that clears things up.

OBAMA LOSES! Now What?

Assuming Barack Obama captures the Democratic nomination, would a loss by him in the general election exacerbate racial tensions in this country, possibly to the point of civil unrest? Unfortunately, this question is likely to come to the fore in the next few months, if not sooner. The “conventional wisdom” answer I predict will be either possibly or probably, depending on how much the punditocracy and the media choose to influence the voting public. We are already seeing suggestions by some in the blogosphere that a vote against Obama is evidence of racism. Both Obama and McCain wish to avoid making this a race about race. But at some point we are going to hear liberal talking-heads aplenty seek to portray the election in strictly black man vs white man terms. At that point, of course, there won’t be a need to do this as a means of mobilizing the black demographic. They vote overwhelmingly for whoever is on the Democratic ticket anyway, and if it’s Barack Obama they won’t need any cajoling to show up on election day. No, the racial rhetoric then, subtle or not so subtle, will be directed at white Americans. Almost certainly this will include raising the specter of worsening racial discord, and possibly civil unrest, should Obama loose. We may even get a sermon or two from Reverend Wright regarding dire consequences should the wrong color man win, complete with more videos to watch. Polls may be conducted to assess the potential degree of disenchantment in black communities, and duly reported on CNN just prior to the election. It will be seen as a given that electing Obama the first black president in this country’s history will go a long way towards bridging the racial divide. Rejecting him will be portrayed as entering uncharted socio-political terrain, thus risky and uncertain. And if that kind of talk supplants normal political discourse, imagine what will happen if the election is as close as it was in 2000.

What to do about this? I would suggest both candidates address this issue directly and forcefully when it first starts to surface in the mainstream media. Like old fashion race-baiting, it should be despised and disavowed. We should be able to vote our conscience without concern that the results could spark civil unrest. After all, this is America and our history is notable for the lack of civil strife when we elect our national leader. That shouldn’t change just because one candidate is black. If McCain is elected, we can be duly proud of having chosen a remarkable individual and a talented politician. The exact same sentiment pertains if Obama is the winner. I believe both these candidates would agree that the sanctity of our political process is more important than the skin color of our next president.
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History will record the 2008 Democratic Convention as the Osama/Wright Scalawag convention. Anyone voting Democratic or declaring themselves a Democrat, is automatically a member of the Osama/Weight Scalawag group.