Obama-Wright, Part II ... Some Perspective

Well, Well, Well ...

We could go on a diatribe, on the extra distance one candidate has to go, that the other candidates do not, even though that candidate addressed the issue - repeatedly, publically, and in his own words.

The big breaking news last evening was that Barack Obama is going to give a major address to this morning on race.

From Marc Ambinder, over on The Atlantic;

"He is expected to recount, in detail, how he came to know Rev. Wright, how he came to admire Rev. Wright, the history and meaning of the Trinity church, and address the controversial remarks attributed to Wright.

He is also worried that Wright and church will get caricatured unfairly.

Since everyone is paying attention to Obama and race, the basic thought, according to advisers, is why not give a big speech about... Obama and race."

Thankfully, Ambinder refrained, but others didn't, of alluding to Mitt Romney's big moment, his big speech on "Mormonism" (See The Garlic's Romney Speech: Where's Leonard Pinth Garnell When You Really Need Him?)

Make-up Mitt delivered a snoozer, and only mentioned the word "Mormon" once.

Little worry about Obama on that front.

He's been in the big show for a while now, and, be it his 2004 Convention speech, or out on the stump, he's shown he can hit the fastball.

While the MSM, and Cable News, seems to take glee, in showing the montage of video clips of Reverend Wright (and the Freakshow is having a field day with them), they are often, in most cases, presented out-of-context.

It isn't discussed why Rev. Wright is angry, or hostile, only that he is, and he is Barack Obama's guy, therefore, Obama must endorse what Rev. Wright is saying.

And stating, for three-or-four days that he doesn't, isn't enough, hence today's big Obama speech.

We looked around the World Wide Web, the blogosphere and found some good posts, to counterbalance, better yet, to, hopefully, enlighten, the single-prisim people.


Some Perspective

From Melissa McEwan's "I Recommend Not Holding Your Breath, Either", over on Shakesville;

"We know Obama's minister's name because he told us. And until we all grow up and decide we're really going to have a country with a genuine separation between church and state, and no religious litmus tests, we are going to have candidates introducing us to their religious mentors, and various other ways of trying to out-god each other. This would certainly be as good a time as any to revisit the wisdom of that habit and engage in a little self-reflection on whether it's actually helping our country in any discernible way."

The Anonymous Liberal;

"I always figured that if Barack Obama's presidential campaign took off, media attention would eventually focus on the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and some of his more colorful sermons. I was expecting it to be more of a general election, swiftboat type issue than an issue in the primaries, though. I guess I never really figured a Democratic rival would pursue an electoral strategy based on stirring up white resentment. A failure of the imagination I guess.

Conservative double standards are rarely as soul-crushingly obvious as this one. Hinderaker has no problem with Republican politicians associating themselves with (and indeed aggressively seeking the endorsement of) people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, and James Dobson, men who have track records of saying crazy, hate-filled things that Rev. Wright can't possibly compete with. Moreover, if we're looking for segments of society into which "irrationality has penetrated deeply," we need look no further than the conservative evangelical community which forms the base of the Republican party and to which Republican politicians endlessly pander."

And Dennis Perrin knocks one out of the park, hitting it dead-on, in his "Land of Chains";

"Amid all the righteous noise made about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, it was David Gergen on Anderson Cooper's show who made the most pertinent observation. The veteran GOP operative with bipartisan ties informed the audience that black America is having a different conversation than white America, so one cannot apply the CNN, Fox, or MSNBC framework to African-American concerns.

That it took a power broker like Gergen to make this obvious, important point further reveals how fixed our "national dialogue" remains. This of course allows all manner of patriotspeak to flow unimpeded, for there's nothing that the Liberal Media loves more than to prove its nationalist bonafides. After all, who do you think keeps the American flag lapel pin industry in the, er, black?"

With kitchen sinks coming at him from all directions now, I hope the Superdelegates and DNC are paying attention.


Bonus Links

Transcript of Obama’s Interview on “NewsHour”

Andrew Sullivan: The Testing Of Obama

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes/TMV: Barack is Not White, Barack is Not Black” The Possible Gift in Being Bi-Racial

Kos: The Clinton civil war

Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones ...