Why, oh why?The Reverend Wright is not a stupid man.
Being an ex-Marine, the man must be in complete control of himself ….his words, his emotions, his facial expressions. If he does a little dance behind the moderator which elicits laughs and snickers from the crowd …. It must be a premeditated action rather than some sort of involuntary muscular tic.
Being an African-American senior citizen, he undoubtedly has endured a brand of in-your-face racism most younger Blacks are not familiar with. He knows all the hot-buttons which raise hackles among the white racists still among us. Arrogant prancing and preening is one such “hot-button”. Wild tales of government-introduced HIV to exterminate its black citizens is another. Wright the performer and provocateur eagerly and gleefully used these and other constructs as he entertained the nation with his Press Club spectacle so as to purposefully stir all the ugly emotions he could.
Being a biblical scholar, the Reverend certainly knows who Judas was and how the ‘kiss of death’ can just as easily be delivered through the spoken word as a peck on the cheek in the Garden of Gethsemane. Telling the world on national television that Obama, like all politicians, will say whatever he has to say to get elected certainly qualifies as death kiss one. Offering his caricature-self up as a vice-presidential running mate was death kiss two. And unfortunately what followed was death kiss three, four, five ……
So …. Why? Why would a man who has spent the better part of his entire life seeking respect, equality and “liberation” for “his people” attempt to politically assassinate the first black American within spitting distance of the Presidency? Doesn’t he realize a ‘President Barack Obama’ would definitively and forever close a major chapter in the book of ugly race relations in this country? Not that it would herald a day where no racism existed at all. That day, unfortunately, will never come so long as humans are the imperfect beings that they are. 
But doesn’t the good Reverend understand the immense, historic turning-point that is finally within reach?God help us and God help poor, dear Barack Obama ….. because the good Reverend does understand. He understands, he sets out to destroy Obama anyway, so the answer is the good Reverend must not be ready for the present ugly chapter to close.
Whether white America has not atoned sufficiently enough for Wright’s personal satisfaction…… Or whether Wright fears a “liberated” flock will have less need for his prominent leadership…… Or whether he fears prominent finances attached to prominent leadership might dwindle as well …… Reverend Jeremiah Wright is plainly not ready for the present ugly chapter of racism in this country to close.
He’s not the first black man to find benefit in the continued suffering and subjugation of his black brothers and sisters. He won’t be the last. But silly me …. I didn’t think it would be Obama’s own pastor who’d be the one to do him in. I thought it would be one of us racist Whites instead.
Well, Mr. Obama still has my support. For whatever small good that will do.
4 comments:
I think it is ego. I think Wright wants an end to race, but on his terms. He also may have taken Obama's denouncing his comments as a personal attack. This is not a man of the cloth responding now, this is someone's arrogance.
This may however be good for Obama. Before he tried to play it safe and not totally distance himself from Wright. Now he can cut him off completely and put some distance between them.
Maybe I'm out on a limb on this one. I had something like your aversion to the Rev. Wright personally before this, but having watched those videos -- thank you for posting them -- I kind of love the guy.
I saw an incredibly brave, incredibly intelligent, incredibly sincere person up there, who cares about what he cares about. Sure it's not good for Barack Obama, but the Rev. obviously has a lot of faith in G-d and feels he was put on this earth to teach about his gospel. They asked questions, he answered them, I thought it was impressive.
And honestly, it seemed like he was charming the room.
I am confused and troubled by his opinion about the AIDS virus -- did he mention it again? I may have missed the very last part of the first video -- and I don't know enough about Farrakhan to comment. Suffice to say, I'm happy he and Barack Obama are different people. I see two people who have a strong bond of some kind and who have significant disagreements. Enough said.
Yes, he mentioned AIDS again. He basically said he believed the US was capable of anything whatsoever. And that included AIDS.
Yea, he believes what he believes and he's very entertaining and in another "venue" .... I might be able to appreciate his performance.
But I saw a man taking great pleasure in sticking the knife in Barack and twisting it good. On many occasions. Not only what he said that he didn't have to say.... It was also the way he said it that was deadly and uncalled for.
The worst? Saying Barack didn't really mean it when Barack previously denounced Wright's words. He said Barack is a politician, and all politicians say whatever they have to say in order to get elected. And Barack is just like all politicians.
HE SAID THAT!
Look at Barack when he gives his "denounce" speach on Wright the next day. It is clearly paining Barack to cause Wright any harm or hurt. Clear pain. None from Wright however. Not a speck.
This is one "crazy uncle" I don't find endearing. He's tanked the first viable, impressive black candidate for president. One who HAD a very good chance. Nothing endearing about that to me.
I think there's reason to believe that as many people will be turned ON by Wright as are turned OFF. Yeah, there are a lot of people, traditional voters, who will find him asinine and will dislike Obama because of him. But if somebody will dislike Obama because of the actions of somebody loosely associated with him, don't you think they would've found some other reason to dislike Obama if Wright had never existed?
This idea that a person is in liege to his pastor is nonsense. Those of us who go to church know that half the people there aren't even listening to what's going on. It's different for black churches, yeah, because the preachers tend to get the congregation involved more. But I've been to many black churches, and I can tell you that the cues there are just as blatant as they are for Catholics.
If you're a Catholic and not really listening at Mass, you probably know enough to reflexively say "And also with you" whenever you hear the keywords "The Lord be with you." In the same way, if you're distractedly listening to a sermon by a black preacher and you hear him end a sentence on an uptick followed by a pause, you know to say "Amen."
So the idea that everybody at a church is sitting in rapt attention agreeing with everything the pastor says is a fiction created for the sole purpose of sliming Obama.
But let's say it is true. Who's to say that more people will be turned off by the words of Obama's proxy? Record numbers of young people are registering to vote, in part because they see a candidate who doesn't bullshit them (or bullshits them less than other politicians do, perhaps). And a lot of these people, having grown up discussing things on the Internet, are used to dialog that is far more ridiculous than Wright's antics.
I see a distinct possibility that people like this will look at Wright and think, "He's a damn fool, but he's right. I'd rather vote for a damn fool who doesn't lie to me than someone like McCain, who says the right things but is full of shit."
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