Six weeks ago the Rev. Wright videos caused a media storm that led to Obama's speech in Philadelphia about civil rights. It was a powerful speech which should have settled the matter completely. Because Obama decided not to reject his pastor, he made a compelling argument for his loyalty to his pastor by rejecting the out of context words that Wright mentioned in a few sermons that sounded anti-American.
The media generally did not attempt to nuance and distinguish between a sermon from a black pastor and a political statement from a politician. Instead, Obama endured continued guilt by association references to Rev. Wright and his ostensibly anti-American sermons. George Stephanopolis and Charles Gibson continued this political smearing in their infamous Philadelphia debate which also included Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a former member of a militant black group in 1968.
It is my personal opinion that the retired Rev Wright had seen this going on for 6 weeks while he had remained silent hoping that the issue would go away. Unfortunately it did not and was going to remain an issue for Obama all the way to November. Given that Rev. Wright is a capable, intelligent, and wise person I am sure that he knew the consequences of him going public about his previous sermons.
I think that Rev. Wright's going public with his defense of the black church and his previous sermons was meant to give cover to Obama to reject the good pastor once and for all. I am not suggesting that Obama planned this. I am convinced that Obama was just as surprised as many of his supporters about Rev. Wright defending his so-called radical views about America. However, giving Obama the opportunity to reject Rev. Wright as well as his remarks should put this issue away for the rest of the campaign.
Most clergymen who are rational have a certain wisdom about these things. While this recent episode may not completely eliminate this as an issue in the fall, it certainly will shut it down for the remaining primaries and make it more difficult to raise by McCain. And that is why I think Rev. Wright was willing to fall on his sword.
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Sheldon Drobny was the co-founder of Nova M radio and Air America Radio. He has supported many philanthropic causes and is currently involved in purchasing radio stations for liberal talk radio with his new company, Nova M Radio, Inc. Mr. Drobny specializes in business and tax matters and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court as a non-attorney. Less than 200 non-attorneys have been admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court since its inception in 1942. Mr. Drobny received a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting from Roosevelt University in Chicago and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary fraternity recognizing acadamic achievement in colleges of business administration.
It is understandably indeed reasonable that people today are naturally cynical, that doesn't mean that they are always right. Cynicism as the natural default mindset blocks out the motivational force of hope. All progress is as a result of unreasonable behaviour as its challenges the status quo.
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kwalsh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 186 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 6:35:42 PM
Your analysis is dead on point. Obama needed some kind of cover under which he could back away from his earlier statements refusing to separate himself completely from Reverend Wright, and the very wise Reverend saw this fact and fell on his sword. This is not an ignorant man in any respect, and he is fully cognizant of the office at stake. Anyone who has experienced the black ministry knows of the gentle, self-sacrificing nature of most African-American ministers, and their deep insight into the American political and social system. The Reverend Wright merely did what needed to be done for the good of a country that former marine must certainly love, blemishes and all.
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W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 283 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 2:26:32 PM
No, Wright meant exactly what he said, & it isn't going to
"benefit" Obama in the slightest. I'd guess that it's much more likely to finish him off, than to help him. Even if he somehow survives it & becomes the nominee, he'll be a wounded & vulnerable candidate. A new NYT poll proves Obama is losing ground at the polls.
Painting him as "un-American" would be a lead-pipe cinch for Republicans, who have made an artform of this kind of thing. They're doubtless thinking that this is just too good to be true -- a black candidate whose middle name is "Hussein," who can be "linked" to an angry black pastor and a 60's radical; and who (to hear the media tell it) seems to have spoken condescendingly about the religion & gun-clinging of financially-strapped rural Americans. They can trot out Hillary's own quote that Obama has not proven he's capable of being "commander in chief," while she and McCain have.
When the US media "links" someone to un-American nasties like angry blacks or 60's radicals, they don't need the "link" to be valid or accurate. All they need is some vague quasi-fictitious connection -- and they've already got that.
Obama seems like a decent guy to me, & I'm very sorry to see him being hit with all these dirty broadsides. However, if it indeed turns out that this incident has undone him, it will be because his candidacy rested mostly on hot air, anyway. His position was not built on any important truths; he relied rather on artful non-verbal suggestion & on vague happy-talk about "unity." When Wright forced the issue, he had to decide whose interpretation of American history he sided with -- Wright's (which had the strength that comes with being mostly truthful), or the standard lies & myths so beloved of the US media. Obama weakly sided with the media. He was caught defending a position based on hot air -- a feeble foundation from which to fight.
BTW, Bill Ayers was a member of the Weathermen -- which is not a militant "black" group.
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Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1121 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 9:28:06 PM
"...Bill Ayers was a member of the Weathermen -- which is not a militant "black" group."
I have to thank Mr. Mynick for pointing out that Billy was NOT a member of a militant black group; rather, it was a militant "white" group allied with the militant "black" group - The Black Liberation Movement. In their "Declaration of a State of War" against the U.S. in May 1970, the Weathermen stated:
"Within the next fourteen days we will attack a symbol or institution of Amerikan injustice. This is the way we celebrate the example of Eldridge Cleaver and H. Rap Brown and all black revolutionaries who first inspired us by their fight behind enemy lines for the liberation of their people. Never again will they fight alone," - click here .
What's the difference here other than the black and white adjectives? The far more important issue is the militant stance taken by these domestic terrorists that included a Declaration of War against a soverign nation.
Using skin color as a filter here is unnecessary and irrelevant. Senator Obama's association with Billy, though, is relevant (as well as the senator's relationship with the good reverend) - click here . Spin it any and all the way you want to... but... Senator Obama is fast becoming a man with (at least) two sides. This should only make us wonder about the sincerity of the public side of the man when it speaks to us.
Like it or not, "You are known by the company you keep (and sometimes kept)" - click here .
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Tom Murphy (3 articles, 3 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 1551 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 8:26:53 AM
Tom moves towards a core issue here, when he writes
"The far more important issue is the militant stance taken by these domestic terrorists that included a Declaration of War against a soverign nation."
That gets us somewhere near the heart of the matter, but it still needs a bit of refinement. The truly important principle is the moral necessity of opposing terrorists who commit murderous aggression against the people of sovereign nations. By this standard, the US government was indeed a terrorist entity during the Vietnam War, as it committed the unprovoked aggression & murder of millions of Vietnamese, Cambodian & Laotian peasants.
By contrast, the Weathermen -- who never harmed anybody, except for 3 of their own members who died when a bomb they were building exploded accidentally in Greenwich Village -- were not murderers. They scrupulously gave advance warnings to ensure that innocent civilians would not be harmed by their bombings -- which were aimed against the real terrorists of the time, the US Government.
It is no crime to oppose the US government, when that government is committing terrorist atrocities, as it so frequently & consistently does. One may or may not approve of the use of violence, in opposing our government's murderous terrorism. But one cannot pretend that even violent opposition to our government's immoral wars (when care is taken to harm only buildings, and not people, as was the case with the Weathermen) is of the same debased moral character as the wars themselves. And it goes without saying that principled non-violent opposition to our government, when the govt is committing terrorist atrocities, is a positive & thoroughly admirable virtue. Indeed, the right to resist such a criminal government is enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.
As far as Obama goes, if he was actually close friends with Bill Ayers (which he's not), I'd admire him more than I do. And I'd certainly admire him more, than if he were close friends with any of the terrorist criminals & liars in the Bush administration, or their Democratic collaborators.
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Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1121 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:38:41 AM
To me, this entire 'flap' is about our collective inability to accept truth. This fault is helping keep us without health care, decent education and a worthwhile quality of life for all of us. No matter, we continue to be the most able destroyers on the planet. Without Truth, how can there be Hope?
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Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 336 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 10:04:03 AM
