Obama goes on the offensive; a masterful move by a political neophyte
It looks as though Barack Obama and his team have made a decisive choice to cut ties with Rev. Wright and clearly redefine their relationship. I believe that this is the nail in the coffin of Hillary Clinton and probably spells the beginning of the end of John McCain. Our next President will in fact, be Barack Hussein Obama.
Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he was outraged by the latest assertion by his former pastor that criticism of his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church.
The presidential candidate is seeking to tamp down the growing fury over Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary remarks that threaten to undermine his campaign.
“I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday,” Obama told reporters at a news conference.
. . . “I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia explaining that he’s done enormous good. … But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS. … There are no excuses. They offended me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced.”
From a political perspective, this is such an outstanding move. Wright has been dragging Obama down like an anchor. From this point forward, all ties that bind Obama and Wright have officially been cut. There will now be no more need to dance around the question with prepared speeches nor dodge questions of Obama’s sincerity when it comes to issues of race. It is now clear that despite the fact that I am uncomfortable with Obama’s proposed policies and lack of experience, I must now get used to saying and typing ‘President Obama.’ I advise all Conclub authors and readers to do the same.
I gotta say that I think Obama had the same perspective I did and that a lot of people probably did. He heard that stuff before and thought of it as being a part of a whole, which it was. The guy that came out yesterday was not a preacher. As Obama also said:
I take Obama at face value on this. I think he would have never said what he said today if he had not seen Wright out there strutting without any semblance of purpose. And I think he really didn’t want to do this and really didn’t think this was what Wright was really all about. If he did, he would have done it long before now.
Wright has done a lot of good for a lot of people, and his physical legacy is mighty. If we’re measured by good deeds and not thoughts or words, his worth is unquestioned. But yesterday he made himself appear cocky and sneering, and that’s not the pastor he has been portraying for so long. And as much as it REALLY fucking pains me to say it… you were right.
Part of me does suspect whether this wasn’t something like Wright’s version of Dylan’s Self-Portrait album. Something thrown out there to make himself rid of the hype.
Wes
April 29, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Wes said – Part of me does suspect whether this wasn’t something like Wright’s version of Dylan’s Self-Portrait album. Something thrown out there to make himself rid of the hype.
I’m not familiar with that reference but you’ve got to wonder if Wright “took one for the team.” In other words somebody in the Obama camp tells him that the only chance our guy has is if you say something really inflammatory so our guy can stand up and cut ties with you cleanly. Was that what you were alluding to Wes?
By the way that is a complete fabrication on my part I’m not saying that’s what happened. Could be Obama was just biding his time for Wright to cross the line again so he could do this. That’s far more likely I believe.
thompaine
April 29, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Has Wright’s public persona suddenly changed over the past 2 months? Now he’s not the man Obama sat in front of for 24 years? The spiritual mentor has become possessed, maybe?
hairybeast
April 29, 2008 at 3:02 pm
No, Self-Portrait was an album that Dylan released at the end of the 60s that is just really and truly awful. And intended to be so. It actually features that song that was used in The Royal Tenenbaums a few years back, Wigwam. He released it to piss off and disillusion his rabid fans and destroy the “mythos” that had sprung up around him.
I don’t think this was collusion, though. It was way too sloppy to have gone down that way. Obama looked pretty unhappy to be making those remarks.
Wes
April 29, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I think Obama now sees Wright for what he is: an attention whore. Obama is rightly pissed off that Wright wouldn’t slink back to the hole from which he emerged. In Obama’s time of need, he “needed” Wright to shut the hell up. Wright didn’t.
Having said what I did in the post, I still think the questions that will be raised are correct ones. Why sit in the pews of an attention whore? Why let a demagogue marry you and baptize your children? Why would you dabble in Black Liberation Theology?
But ultimately I believe that those associations don’t really change who Obama is. He is still an elitist, leftist liberal. Having your hand in the cookie jar of of Afro-centrism, or radical environmentalism or soft socialism or appeasement is just a manifestation of that overall ideology. And yet he will still be the next POTUS.
E the Wise
April 29, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Baloney. Obama is doing what is politically expedient and he’s tap dancing as fast as he can. But do you really think “The REV” is going to just sit back quietly now that his little buddy told the world he’s a ranting loon who he renounces? He made it bad for Obama when they were friends, I suspect he’s going to be making another appearance with more dirt very soon. Get out the popcorn.
Obama is finished
April 29, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I don’t disagree altogether. But do you think when John McCain tries to tell a North Carolina Republican that he shouldn’t run some ads about Wright, that he isn’t being politically expedient? And at this point, everything Wright says is now the same as that of Farrakhan. The rantings of an insane lunatic. Obama can no more control him than Wright.
E the Wise
April 29, 2008 at 5:00 pm
This is a naive analysis. When Obama cut his ties with Wright today, and expressed “outrage” at remarks that were essentially a repeat of what Wright originally said, Obama’s insincerity showed through. Where was the “outrage” weeks ago? He’s faking it now, and the cat is out of the bag. Wright is right in that respect: a dishonest politician will say whatever is expedient to get elected, and Obama showed himself to be part of that class.
Willy
April 29, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Today makes the race speech look stupid, the problem for BHO is Wright is not the loon he has been associated with.
cv
April 29, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Matthews and his toadies on MSNBC were all pretend-crowing about how Obama’s courage at cutting loose Wright was going to get him past the issue.
HA!
They said the same after Obama’s “race’ speech and we all see now how far THAT got him. Methinks Wright is now an enemy who will dog Obama daily. Wright sees a chance to become the next Al Sharpton. He has been propelled to a national stage and he’s going to take advantage.
hairybeast
April 29, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Willy, you got it really right, my man.
Obama should have gone down the list of the 15 or 20 main tenets of “Black Liberation Theology”, and with particular emphasis, made certain that every young black citizen take particular note that the whole thing, each alone, and all together, are BUNK—nothing but self-serving crap dreamed up by Leonard Jeffries and every other “African American Studies” “professor-wanna-be” for the last 40 years.
Wisdom, true wisdom, centered on the notion of the “content of their character”, had its chance to find the light after Martin Luther King was killed. Yes, Jesse Jackson had his chance to keep the path clear and lighted as the “black community” made its way past Dr. King, but he proved to be nothing but the first of all the selfish “black” “leaders” to find out how easy it was/is to force boards of directors to vomit money when Watts and Rodney King were fresh in the news. He has been nothing but a money-grubbing race pimp/whore ever since then. And now dozens follow his lead, and “the community” is greatly the worse off for it.
Today was Obama’s chance to show true stength of character, and true, national quality leadership. But he failed the test. He made it clear today that he has no taste for actually leading the country anywhere—he wants to get the office more than he wants to lead the country where he knows it should go. If he wanted to be a real leader, he could have (but not now, it’s too late) shown the world how strong his leadership capacity is by accurately and without apology thrown Wright/Jeffries/Farrakhan/Jackson/Sharpton/Black Liberation Theology in the burn pit, forever to be scorned and forgotten.
He didn’t do that. He pulled his punches. All he did was give a bunch of CNN news blabbers an excuse to lick his shoes and praise him for the privilege. The rest of the country, all us white guys, and white women, and black men, and black women, and anyone else who really gives a damn about this country, who really are thinking about what the choice of a president means for all of us will draw back from this weakling as if he had just been forced to acknowledge passing odious and audible gas in the middle of his mother’s funeral.
This “speech” today certifies him as weak and shallow, and re-certifies his deep contempt for the real backbone of this country: black, white, brown, red or yellow.
Barack = POTUS??? Give me a damned break!!!!!
posted by sndpaper
John Taylor
April 29, 2008 at 6:26 pm
shud be: “strength”, not “stength”
sndpaper
April 29, 2008 at 6:29 pm
You know, this only seems confusing because you keep looking at it from the perspective that he’s full of crap. If you take his words at face value (which I know must seem foreign at first), it’s a lot easier to decode. Just humor me for a bit.
The first remarks were within the context of a sermon. A sermon in which those remarks were nothing but asides. Easy to ignore, and in at least one case, bookended by disclaimers that he was about to go on a rant. But despite that, anyone who knew Wright primarily as a pastor could be forgiven for thinking that much of it was bombast.
Obama referred to Wright at first as a crazy uncle. He said he was in church for some outlandish remarks. So it’s clear that he heard these statements, but when put within the confines of that sermon and the overall church (which Obama still defends and will not leave), it would be easy to dismiss. I find it very hard to believe the congregants of that church all believe everything that comes out of Wright’s mouth.
OK, so that leaves us before this weekend. Obama still sees Wright as someone that has been maligned, someone who has made statements he disagrees with, but someone he still respects and looks up to.
This weekend was more of the same. Wright speaks eloquently, says a lot of inspiring things peppered with some stuff that is a bit out there. But again, all that can be attributed as bombast.
But Monday WAS a gamechanger. All the stuff he said in his sermons that Obama saw as bombast was the only thing on display. And Wright was making it his primary message. That was disappointing, I’m sure, and would definitely have led to some tough words by itself. But then he started getting personal. He asserted dominance over Obama, put words in his mouth, and vaguely threatened him that he would expect Obama to follow his agenda. That would hurt ANYBODY. If an old college professor you considered a bit of a mentor started doing that to you when you were trying to tell people that he was misunderstood, it would bruise your ego, but it would also feel like a betrayal.
Obama was hurt. He wasn’t just planning this. He stuck by Wright long after it was advisable to turn his back on him. But he realized that he didn’t really understand what Wright’s core beliefs were. And he knew what he had to do. It’s not much different from when Tony had to kill Big Pussy on The Sopranos. He didn’t take joy in it. He hated it and he was angry. It was the only thing he could do, though.
Again, the logic when presuming he is sincere is far more sensible than the logic when presuming that he is not. As for Obama joining the church out of political expediency, I say that we’re talking about the only candidate in the race who has a real identity in his church. Who knows more about it than just its name. Perhaps he did join out of political expediency, but if he did, he would have switched churches when starting his Senate career.
Wes
April 29, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Oh, ok. You guys are coming here from LGF. Welcome.
hairybeast
April 29, 2008 at 6:39 pm
So Wes, assuming Wright didn’t suddenly go nuts in the last 3 weeks, his primary sin was saying that stuff in the NATIONAL MEDIA instead of keeping it quiet in church, where it couldn’t be passed off as usual?
Obama’s disclaimers (I never heard that – I wasn’t there – ok, I heard some of it but I ignored it and you don’t understand it anyway because you’re white – now I hear it and I am pissed) seem a bit hollow now.
hairybeast
April 29, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Willy and John Taylor (49er’s receiver?) are over-analyzing the situation. They make the claims that the apology is fake or contrived. Ya think?!! It’s called politics Willy! Everything is fake and contrived, dummy! John goes into great detail about Obama disavowing Black Liberation Theology and Louis Farrakhan as if Joe Six-Pack is as informed about the concept as he is. Some guy working a union job in Ohio doesn’t care about Black Liberation Theology much less care if Obama has disavowed it.
The situation is simple. Obama’s strong rebuke of Wright will play over and over and over and over. It was a good political move but your hatred of Obama and disdain of Wright apparently means you can’t objectively look at the American political landscape. I can only extend my deepest sympathies that our guy won’t win. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not.
E the Wise
April 29, 2008 at 9:04 pm
It’s only slightly to do with WHERE he said it, the difference is largely in how he said it. In the church, these comments were tiny remarks sandwiched in between actual scripture and talk about God and the importance of both faith and community. In at least one case (I’m betting most of the others too), he bookended it by making it clear he was about to editorialize. In that environment, the statements in question are not correct in context, but they are misrepresentative of the experience within that church.
But on Monday, all emphasis on positivity and the power of God to overcome such issues was simply gone. In its place was not only the statements he KNEW offended people, it was devoid of any purpose other than to piss everyone off. That is the difference. He stopped being a religious man and started being just another black militant. So it’s easy to see how Obama could be upset and confused. And really pissed off when Wright presumed that Obama agreed with everything he said, even when it contradicted his stated beliefs.
I’m tired of the white power comparisons, too. White people in this country have never had racism turned towards them. So when a white person talks about black people, it’s about how they are lower beings, i.e. hatred. When a black person talks about white people, it’s about anger, not hatred. I’m with Obama on the issue. I don’t think it’s productive, and I think that harping on the unfairness for so long damages its cause in the long run. We’re all aware of race by now, and the vast majority of white people would absolutely LOVE to find a way to bring greater equality. But harping about getting reparations or apologies for slavery won’t really help any more than these rebate checks or McCain’s idiotic gas tax holiday will fix the recession. They’re quick fixes, and when we stop focusing on that, maybe we can actually get the harder, more important stuff in focus.
Wes
April 29, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Wes that last paragraph almost sounds like you starting to lean a little to the right there buddy.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call the fight just yet E but this was a very good move by Obama. Now that this thing has (probably) been put to bed it would be good to see a presidential campaign that focuses on… gee I dunno the issues? More likely than not that’s not going to happen though. It’s only a matter of time before someone claims that McCain dropped the N bomb in 1973 or Hillary beats her dog.
thompaine
April 30, 2008 at 9:44 am
Whether E is right and Obama gets elected in Nov. I believe is not related to this move. It’s important, but not that important.
Dave the Infidel Sage
April 30, 2008 at 12:09 pm
You guys think Wright is going to just fade away?
hairybeast
April 30, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I think he probably will Beast. If he really wants Obama to win he will. Then again he’s an attention grabber so who knows?
thompaine
April 30, 2008 at 12:52 pm
If Wright really wanted Obama to win why would he be acting this way in public?
This is payback, baby!
hairybeast
April 30, 2008 at 1:09 pm
In the words of Omar Little “A fish gotta swim.” In his own demented mind maybe he thought that by “preaching the word” he was helping Obama?
I guess the better question is will the media pay any more attention to Wright? He’s been spewing the same crap for years and I must admit that 6 months ago I had no idea who he was.
thompaine
April 30, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I’m less sanguine about Senator Obama rectifying the horrible mess made by Wright (whom I will not dignify with an honorific). For purposes of full disclosure, I am a White Republican from Orange County, CA who has been fascinated by Barack and may still vote for him (after all, you’ve got to admit that he has that “presidential timber”…he just feels right). My main problem is that the underlying lie has not been addressed; how can Senator Obama state that the revelations about Wright were caused by “sound bites” and “charactures” when he said what he said. To pretend that these series of racist statements dripping with lies and hatred of the most vicious sort, calculated to illicit the same in the hearts of his parishioners can some how be amiliorated by “context” or “good works” is completely without logic or critical thinking. We send prison escapees back to prison even though they were on the lamb for decades and lived exemplary lives. One thing does not cancel out another. Imagine Senator Obama’s children sitting there sujected to invective of this sort for years (and believe me, this has gone on for years). This all boils down to judgment and I’m afaid that Senator Obama has displayed a horrible lack of judgment both in attending this little church of horrors and by prevaricating in his explaination before reluctantly admiting what we all knew (even if we didn’t want to admit it); that his pastor is a hate filled racist who needs to take a class in rational and critical thinking. The fact that his parishioners were clapping so enthusiastiaclly and jumping to their feet demonstrates that they share Wright’s world-view; and Barack has been attending this church for 20-years and he just now discovered that the man who brought him to his faith, married him to his wife and baptised his children was a preening, malevolent clown?!?!? “Why I’m shocked, shocked to find that there is gambling in this establishment!”
A lie is a lie and no matter how popular the lie is, it has no bearing on whether it’s a lie or not. 1) every and anyone regardless of color, race, creed or linguistic group who hold views about other groups that aren’t based in fact are racist (I don’t care how many idiots try to twist this fact). 2) Crack is in the inner city because that is where the market is. Do you suppose that the Columbian drug lords showed up with pallet loads of cocaine only to have to research their market…please. 3) AIDS is a natural disease that comes out of Africa (so perhaps the chattering classes should acuse the black Africans of a plot to kill white gays)and was not invented and was not somehow “introduced” into the black community. believeing any of the above is not only believing in an obvious lie; it is believing in a stupid lie and tells more about the believer than it does about the accused race (by-the-way, when did it become OK to indict an entire race?). Regards!
David Holbert
May 1, 2008 at 3:30 pm
How dare Obama even address the Wright issue when… WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!
DFV the Scribe
May 1, 2008 at 8:42 pm
What a load of old cow’s dung. Here is a guy who spent 20 years in the congregation of a man who he describes as “like an uncle to me”, who performed his marriage and baptized his children and was the inspiration of his latest book, and suddenly he realizes that what he has been saying “contradicts everything I am about and who I am”. You have to be the most gullible dimwit to believe this total illogical nonsense.
What Wright has recently been saying is in total harmony with his past sermons. So, why Obama’s sudden change? Could it be something to do with the fact that his “race speech” didn’t quite do the trick in Pennsylvania and he wants to pacify Whitey in Indiana? I think so and apparently so does Wright. Paranoia aside, Rev. Wright is intelligent, and his implication that Obama is a phony is undoubtedly true. We don’t have hugging sessions with people whose opinions we abhor.
Otherwise one has to ask how is it possible that it took 20 years to glean his views on a subject that is well known by most of his Church’s congregants? Is this appalling lack of discernment an attribute we want in the Oval office? What can one say about the lack of judgment and the lack of decisive leadership in this guy? What would he do with those 3 am phone calls?
Has everyone also forgotten the reputed conversation of some years back between Obama and Wright, after Wright went to Libya with Farrakhan, where Wright tells Obama, you will have to disown me down the line and Obama says, “Yes, that might have to happen”. Get real folks!
With everything else coming out of Chicago, which now includes accusations of money laundering, McCain will get a landslide. Wake up! Clinton is the only hope for the Democrats. What it sooooo bad with them before?
And by the way, where is The Uniter? The Democrats are trashing each other like crazy, the Catholics are moaning at each other, and now the African Americans are divided. Even Oprah viewers are fussing at each other. What a joke!
Joe
May 2, 2008 at 1:29 am
If the conversation about Obama having to disown Wright were exactly as Wright describes it, why would Obama have waited over a month after it initially became a highly publicized and damaging issue for him to say that he couldn’t stand behind him anymore? Don’t make much sense, do it? Let’s assume all of what you said about Wright being a mentor is true. Then why the hell do you doubt Obama’s sincerity at being disappointed in having to denounce him? He didn’t denounce the statements, he’s already done that MULTIPLE TIMES. He saw Wright go out there and insert himself into Obama’s campaign deliberately, and he saw a guy that doesn’t care about him. I think Obama and Wright had a fundamental misunderstanding. Obama thought Wright understood that he looked up to him as a spiritual (SPIRITUAL!!!) mentor, and Wright thought Obama was just as radical as he was.
Or to put it more directly, if you think that Obama and Wright had a relationship, which is highly supported by the facts, then you can’t say that Obama is phony for being disappointed when his friend basically told everybody (and clarified) that Obama was a liar and a fraud. Well, at least you can’t call Obama a phony while championing one of the biggest phonies in the Democratic party. Obama’s skeletons are dusty, perhaps, but Clinton’s taken them, dusted them off and found ways to use them to maximize her closet space.
ANd I don’t know what you mean implying that those baseless money laundering accusations are new, I think insane Clinton supporters have been pushing them for several months now.
Wes
May 2, 2008 at 3:00 am
Joe, I can see you are disappointed and concerned. I think your analysis of Obama is correct but I’m still right.
Sorry to tell you what you already know deep down inside.
E the Wise
May 2, 2008 at 7:25 am