I have admit I had read the following article from Pete Wehner and was in agreement, there was an unfair double standard, racism should be racism, even if it's black racism. However I listened to the whole 35min speech Mitch sent, and I have to agree with Mitch, that was the best speech on racism I've ever heard. I changed my mind, and for that to happen, it has to be powerful stuff. :)
(I put the link to the speech at the bottom of the blog)
'What has Obama heard from Rev. Wright, and When?'
by Pete Wehner
Senator Obama, whose campaign only last year said that he was “proud of his pastor and his church,” is now saying that he wasn’t aware of the angry, reckless, anti-American, and racially divisive comments by Reverend Wright. But that claim stretches credulity. Reverend Wright, after all, is not a stranger who is offering up a presidential-year endorsement. Wright has instead played a pivotal role in Obama’s life — including marrying Barack and Michelle Obama, baptizing their two children, and inspiring the title of Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope.
Senator Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since the early 1990s. Are we supposed to believe that the kind of venom and vivid hatred that we have all seen on display — that God should damn rather than bless America, that this country created AIDS in an effort to foster genocide, that we had 9/11 coming to us, that America is the “U.S. of K.K.K.A.” and that Israel is a terrorist state — is an anomaly for Wright? That the overwhelming majority of his sermons are expositions on the love of Christ and the need to break down the dividing walls between us? That Obama was utterly shocked to see Wright’s words strung together on cable TV? That he has seen a side of Wright in the last week that he never knew existed?
The odds are a good deal better than even that Wright’s hatred is on regular or semi-regular display at the pulpit of Trinity United. The question now becomes: What did Senator Obama hear, and when did he hear it?
Reverend Wright’s toxic comments may help us better understand the remarks by Michelle Obama that she is proud of America for the first time in her adult life only now that her husband is running for president and that she considers America to be a “outright mean” nation.
If someone admires Reverend Wright as much as Michelle Obama seems to — and she has spoken very well of him in the past — then it’s reasonable to assume that they share some common values. People who attend the same church for a quarter century often share key attitudes and outlooks of their minister. That’s not always the case — but it’s more often the case than not. And it is very rare that people who attend a church for more than 25 years hold views that are fundamentally at odds with their pastor.
Senator Obama and some of his supporters have made the plea that he not be made “guilty by association.” What people are asking for is not guilt but responsibility by association — especially an association this long, this deep, this important.
And on the matter of “guilt by association,” here’s a thought experiment. Assume that the spiritual leader and pastor of the church George W. Bush or John McCain attended was, say, a white supremacist or an anti-gay bigot. Do you think that there would be any hesitancy among the press to push the “guilt by association” storyline? I rather doubt it.
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Pete Wehner has the rarest of White House jobs. He is paid to read, to think, to prod, to brainstorm -- all without accountability. He recalls the words of White House senior adviser Karl Rove when he interviewed for the job: "He said my job is to bug him." Wehner runs the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives (or the Office of Strategery, as it is known inside the building after a "Saturday Night Live" skit spoofing the president's mangling of the English language).
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3 comments:
I remember Hamilton coming to ASU and his only real thoughts about the black community were what he saw on TV (which we all know is not always the best view). The difference between Hamilton and a lot of people out in America - black or white - is that he has a very open minded....although I can still hear him ranting about getting stuck with some pledge named Omar Ahmed :)
I wish that a lot of conservatives out there actually listened to the words in Obama's speech instead of just parsing it for snippets that still support their claims that he should have left the church.
I listened to the speech and was moved by not only the words and stories, but more importantly, how brave it was for Obama to actually make this speech. He did not take the high road and throw his pastor under the bus, but rather explained why his pastor might think or say those statements. He has a very unique and honest way of discussing political topics while at the same time engaging his audience to be a part of the change.
I can't imagine another politician making a speech like that one. His unique background with a white grandma who obviously loved him but was scared of walking past black men on the street, to his mentioning of why he also understands why white america could have feelings of resentment too, and to his reasons for being drawn to the church and this pastor for the work hi did for the community. I think I would have been very disappointed had Obama thrown his pastor under the bus just to help his political ambitions.
By the way - Obama wrote this speech himself, which when you think of all the taboo subjects and mine fields hat he had to dance around, it makes it all the more impressive.
That is a true sign of the courage of his convictions.
Yeah I liked the part where he said, "Let's not kid ourselves, church is the most racially seperate hour this nation spends each week."
--His wife still scares me though. She be one tough Ho.
(couldn't get too MLK Festival Parade Marshal here)
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