Today Senator Barack Obama addressed the biggest controversy of his candidacy so far: his twenty year relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Wright was Obama's pastor, mentor, and friend. He married the Obamas and christened their children. For years, Wright has also preached anti-Americanism and stoked racial and class conflict. We've all seen the video by now.
So Obama set out today to reassure voters---mostly white voters---that he's not the radical guy Wright appears to be. That he's been as close to Wright as a nephew is to an uncle, but he doesn't endorse everything Wright says or does. That Wright represents an older generation of black leadership, and that Obama is different.
It was a big speech, delivered well. It was passionate and personal and emotional. But there was one glaring omission: He didn't make any apologies for Wright, but he also didn't take any responsibility for the decision to sit in his pews for two decades.
And that leaves a lingering question: who is Barack Obama?
In the frenzy created by his charisma, charm, and natural gifts, no one has bothered to ask that question. And he deliberately left himself undefined.
That's why the Wright stuff was so powerful and potentially devastating: absent Obama defining himself, the Wright rants fill the void. And it's not a flattering definition. It's also a prescription for defeat.
Obama knows this, but only sort of. He tried today to distance himself from Wright without throwing him completely under the bus. And he spoke about his bi-racial heritage and desire to bring us all together in a multicultural unity.
But he never identified himself. He never told us who he really is and what he truly believes, from his very depths. Perhaps he's unwilling to do so. But unless he does, he will not win the presidency. Americans will not vote for a vague blank slate, regardless of how much "hope" he proclaims.
It's not about race. It's about who he is.
Tell us, Senator. We're still waiting.
You are gracious to continue to give Obama the benefit of doubt. I believe he previously denounced Wright's remarks, and we ought to accept his word absent any confirming evidence that Obama is more than just another supplicant in Wright's church.
It would be as unfair for us to infer that Kessler, who started this affair, is racist by virtue of the peculiar admixture of innuendo in his article as it of us to project radicalism on Obama because of the reprehensible remarks of an angry pastor.
Your restraint is admirable, as other conservatives are having a field day with this. That is not good for our country nor conservatism.
Posted by: Account Deleted | March 18, 2008 at 05:49 PM
As a conservative and an American I do not give anyone the benefit of the doubt when they are running for Commander-in-Chief. I DO NOT ACCEPT THE PROPOSITION THAT OBAMA SET IN THE PEWS OF THIS CRACKPOT'S CHURCH FOR 20 YEARS AND DIDN'T HEAR THE WHACKY, NUTTY, VIEWS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND WRIGHT. I do not believe it today, tomorrow, or ever. It is IMPOSSIBLE to attend a church for 20 years and not know that your Pastor is a nut. If you want to accuse me of having a field day, fine, but I call it just having some common sense.
If anyone wants to believe Obama was a member of this church for 20 years and didn't know his Pastor was a nut, fine, you can believe anything you want but I'm not buying it for one minute.
Posted by: SteveOk | March 18, 2008 at 06:01 PM
HYPOCRITICAL Obama (NATION): Fire Imus - Obama First White House Contender to Call for Imus' Firing Over Racial Slur
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3031317&page=1
NOW HE WANTS US TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY at his 20 year close association with a racist anti-american hate mongering Paster who illegally preaches politics from a church and who he doesn't have it in himselfto disassociate himself from.
His proposed Marxist policies show that WE ARE DEALING WITH A SLICK TALKING AFRO-LENINIST who has poor judgement (ie. last summer's assertion that "we should invade Nuclear armed Pakistan to get at al Qaeda").
NO WAY NO HOW DOES THIS PHONEY GET MY VOTE!
Posted by: J. Pierpont Finch | March 18, 2008 at 06:02 PM
I haven't seen the speech, but I'm not sure that Obama owes us an apology for something someone else has said. I've sat in pews without necessarily agreeing with everything the clergyman was saying.
Posted by: FK | March 18, 2008 at 06:03 PM
Fred, did you set in the pew for 20 years listening to a nutjob? Yes, I've listened to some nutty religious views from a pew but I knew where the door was and didn't return for 20 years.
Obama said he would not repudiate the REV. Wright and he would not "dis-own" him even with documented video evidence that he is a whackjob. Obama is through politically and will never win a national election.
Fred, you are right, Obama doesn't owe anyone an apology. If he wants to attend a church that is Pastored by a nut that is his right to do, however, hell will freeze over before I would ever vote for someone who associates with the Right Rev. Wright.
Posted by: SteveOk | March 18, 2008 at 06:38 PM
You must show allegiance to one country.He is African-American. Obama is ether African or Americam NOT both
Posted by: aps1937 | March 18, 2008 at 06:46 PM
You is what you is.
Posted by: Dgscol | March 18, 2008 at 08:19 PM
Guys.. You're gonna love this one:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/03/18/msm-must-investigate-could-jesse-jackson-be-obamas-grandmother
On second thought.. I don't think K will like it.. which makes it EVEN NICER.. :-)
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 18, 2008 at 08:22 PM
As the blogger says.. Jesse Jackson is Obama's grandmother.. Hahaha..
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 18, 2008 at 08:24 PM
Race and gender issues will always exist, but they are not of paramount importance in this election. I am not sure that Democrats understand this. The Arab problem and the economy are central. Has anyone considered that electing an man with an Arab sounding name is like electing a Russian during the Cold War. Is that what we intend?
Posted by: Dgscol | March 18, 2008 at 09:52 PM
Truther, is "you is what you is" similar to "they are what we thought they were" (famous quote by Dennis Green concerning the Green Bay Packers)?
Posted by: SteveOk | March 18, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Yes, the truth told directly to us by an honest man with no equivocation disturbs us, doesn't it?
If Obama cannot totally speak the truth, he at least tries. So far he has walked the way he talks. Sure, you can say it's the "political game", but it is much more than that.
I believe that he is the man most capable of solving our racial problems. Government cannot progress without unity of purpose. The racial issue sabotages that unity and works against the will of a large majority of Americans.
That Public Will, will trump in November
However, I would rather see Obama in the VP seat.
He would help the Democrats win in a landslide and give the country time to get to know him better and watch his job performance.
AS Hillary says, "I am applying for the job of President and I want you to hire me."
There are only three applicants. One is a doddering relic from the age of Viet Nam. Two are very much in the present and although their pasts are questionable in regard to some issues, (personal and public), they are more than qualified to run our Country and I hope that they are smart enough to do it together.
Either of them would brighten up the Whitehouse wipe the dust from the Constitution and set the country in a different direction—much like those gentlemen in 1776 took this country in a different direction.
They had to resolve many of their differences before they created our democracy, didn't they?
Posted by: Jack Flynn | March 19, 2008 at 02:42 AM
Jack, you are wrong here. Obama didn't tell us the truth---he lied. He lied about Rev. Wright and his role in this church. People like Rev. Wright have done terrible damage to the community and people like Obama have enabled him to spew his hatred. Why didn't Obama confront Wright one time in the past 20 years concerning his hate speech? Why Jack? Can you answer that question? No you can't because it shows the terrible fraud that Obama is, and his core beliefs. Rev. Wright has be exposed as a fraud and nut and Obama has been exposed as someone who didn't one time in 20 years confront his hatred. What kind of manhood does that represent? And you think this guy can heal racial issues in this country? Give me a break.
Posted by: SteveOk | March 19, 2008 at 10:34 AM
People do not want a racially charged administration - nothing resembling a madrasa, which is where Wright and Michelle seem to be. They have everything going on there but recruiting. It is frightening this got this far before any questions were asked. People believed and accepted that this was not about race and the support of anti-American Muslims. Now they feel deceived. Game over.
Posted by: Dgscol | March 19, 2008 at 11:47 AM
The decline of America..
We once had the Wright Brothers. No we have this Wright brotha.
Good grief!
Ps. Fred will take this as "proof" of my "racism" but I couldn't resist. Can't let the liberals define us.. If we become afraid of their labels and their libels we will become PC cows.
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 20, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Steveok, Truther and Allah,
Thank you for expressing your opinions. I have read and reflected upon them carefully and appreciate the effort you put into them. At least you care enough to speak out. It is no time for apathy.
Posted by: Jack Flynn | March 20, 2008 at 01:38 AM
I don't need any more proof of Allah Seborrhea's racism. I don't even have to look for it.
Posted by: FK | March 20, 2008 at 08:27 AM
How predictable.. the self-proclaimed Racism Kommissar has meted out his rather predictable verdict.
Not the preacher WRONG is a racist nor the calculating and obviously lying Oprahbama.. not, it is I, who found a reliable link that proves my memory right that THE "REVEREND" Jesse Jack-ssson has expressed sentiments almost exactly similar to the one the Big O has attributed to his grandmother.
No, it is *I* the racist.. hey, that's liberal double NEWSPEAK fer ya!
As far as Obama goes.. We have seen a man who is willing to sell his own grandmother to achieve his goal.
End of story.
No more Apple Pie for the Big Empty... and no VOTES.
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 20, 2008 at 03:44 PM
So the "REVEREND" Jack-ssson is on record having said this while gramma has possibly had words put in her mouth.
At the very least she didn't state her views during an interview but in private..
Now I don't imagine that Granny has the same security detail that the good "reverend" enjoys..
so what does that make him?
A racist chicken? I am merely asking a question here, K.
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 20, 2008 at 03:49 PM
You are merely being the prick that I'm sure you are when you are off-line as well.
Posted by: FK | March 20, 2008 at 03:51 PM
It's quite telling that you always personalize things, KKK.
You know nothing about me and my personal life. You have made innuendo about Monica's personal life recently and you have gotten personal wih others on the site.
You are empty and have NO answers for the FACTS I have presented.
You KNOW I am RIGHT about the Jesse jackson comments.
You KNOW the preacher Wrong is a racist and a bigot.
You know that this has thrown the Dhimmicrat party into convulsions because their very own PC dynamic is now threatening to unravel due to its immanent contradictions. One of them being that black racism must remain unspoken of.
Thus you NEED to label the messenger - in this case moi - as a "racist" so that you can thus invalidate the FACTS.
It doesn't work anymore. K.
The wheels are coming off - one by one and I am enjoying every garish moment of it...
The Dhimmicrat convention is a Trainwreck I will LOVE to watch this summer :-)
They will go down at the hands of the demons they created..
Chicago will look like a a picnic comapred to what I see brewing on the horizon..
All these RATM types rioting outside when Hitlery is coroated in aast-dicvth effort to salvage an "electable" candidate.
Obama, is a "Magic Negro" no more. Oh before you accuse me again of "racism", the quote comes from that liberal bastion the LATimes so I think it's a safe one to use, don't you?
Next time, throw harder.
Batting practice never looked easier...
To bad the Republicans don't have a Real Conservative running.. this election looks like a shoo-in...
Posted by: Allah Schmallah | March 20, 2008 at 05:40 PM
What I know, Seborrhea, is that you are a prick and a racist. And you have made our little problem with each other personal plenty of times. If you deny that, you are a bigger puss y than I even realized.
Posted by: FK | March 21, 2008 at 12:45 AM