Why Is Obama Talking About Race Tomorrow?
Posted on March 17, 2008
The damage done by his racist preacher has gone way beyond what his campaign ever imagined. Now Obama plans on a major speech addressing Reverend Wright and the “larger issue of race in this campaign.” My question is why he is addressing race when this controversy has nothing to do with that?
He added that he would “talk about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church issue for example,” he said.
He also briefly defended Wright from the image that has come through in a handful of repeatedly televised clips from recent Wright sermons.
“The caricature that’s being painted of him is not accurate,” he said.
The speech could offer Obama an opportunity to move past the controversy over his pastor, and to turn the conversation to a topic he’d rather focus on: his Christian faith. But the speech also guarantees that the Wright story will continue to dominate political headlines.
Mitt Romney’s attempt directly to address his Mormonism last year never decisively put the issue to rest for some voters.
I think it is interesting how this is being compared to Mitt Romney’s speech addressing his religion, because that is one of the first thougths that crossed my mind. However, Mitt’s speech was focused on misconceptions and bias against his beliefs. Obama will have to address misconceptions and racism that his church holds. Hopefully his speech will hold in common with Romney’s the promise that it will not guide policy decisions.
His speech could go a few ways. He is known for his talented oratory skills and excellent speeches. If it is strong in denouncing his pastor’s hate and racism and inspiring in explaining his own beliefs about the issue of race, he could save the campaign. If he makes excuses or follows the example of his church by playing the victim card he will be finished. I have a feeling he will be defending his pastor and digging his political grave a little bit deeper…but I could be wrong.
Dan Riehl has a different take:
Were Obama truly courageous, as well as audacious, he would acknowledge Jeremiah Wright as a significant and accepted representative religious voice within large portions of mostly urban black America. By denying, or re-inventing what Wright represents, he is selling out portions of his black constituency. And he’s also abdicating any chance of being the very thing he’s professed to want to be – a bridge of sorts.
I don’t know, he may be right. Watch this:
The legend for the video clip is:
Purple: African Americans
Green: Independents
Blue: Democrats
Red: Republicans
So why is he addressing the issue of race? This controversy has nothing to do with race.
The Audacity to Blame Others…
Because you are all bigots and just don’t understand the blessed symbolisms and hallowed underpinnings of the Chicago Trinity United Church of Christ sermons by Rev. Wright, Barack Obama will give a major speech on race to God D*mned America tomorrow.Gee, here we thought it was his crazy uncle’s religious sermons and not his race that caused the uproar. How could we be so blind?
…Of course it was race!
Allahpundit on how Obama will address issues we all have apparently misunderstood within the black church:
Maybe “the government lied about Pearl Harbor†is all a big cultural misunderstanding? Expect lots of redemption rhetoric about the Messiah rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the black nationalist movement he patronized for 20 years and how it’s objectively anti-progress to hold that inconvenient fact against him. Exit question: It’s good news, at least, that the congregation apparently no longer regards “Middleclassness†as some sort of vestige of slavery, isn’t it?
Obama’s already making a mistake saying that the media has created a “caricterature†of Rev. Wright. Um, Senator, it’s his own words that do that. All the media is doing is showing them.
Apparently Obama is also going to speak about “how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church issueâ€. Big mistake there, especially if he’s going to try and say something along the lines of “The views expressed by Rev. Wright are wrong, etc., but let me help you understand the reason they resonate …†Sorry, but any attempt to explain such insanity will fall flat, because the only possible to explain why some people agree with Rev. Wright is because they are just as crazy as he is.
Further, if Obama at all tries to claim this is being taken out of context or is only being brought up is because either he or the Rev. is black, then it’s going to backfire big time. If anything, his race has been helpful to him in the campaign, and not a problem.
The issue here isn’t race, it’s about the views of this nut Reverend Wright who happens to be black, and why Barack Obama didn’t see those views as problematic until he ran for President.
If Obama intends to pursue the argument that what Americans have seen and heard from Wright aren’t relevant in the big picture of Rev. Wright’s accomplishments as he sees them, he’s going to bomb big time.
It sounds like Obama is planning on digging his hole deeper. If Obama plays the race and victim card together tomorrow he will seal his political tomb. However, I’ll let Eric conclude this with a little hopeful quote:
I have no idea what he plans to say, but I think he still has a chance — a slim one, but a chance — to turn what seems like a mortal blow to his advantage. He needs to repudiate his own past, though, and he must use the Wright controversy as an argument and an opportunity to call for real change in race relations. If he admits the mistakes — and the racism — of Wright and himself for buying into it, it might work. But he’ll have to do so convincingly. Reassuring platitudes won’t cut it.
Great roundup at Atlas Shrugs
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Bigotry, Elections, News, Politics As Usual, Stupidity
Trackback URL
Comments
7 Responses to “Why Is Obama Talking About Race Tomorrow?”
Leave a Reply
Obama is going to say that the black churches do things different from white churches. And that when they talk about race they don’t really mean what they say. And it is all a bunch of BS. Obama knew the man for 20 some years he even said he was like a uncle who says controversial things. Right there says he knew about this man. There is clearly a double standard on racism when it comes from a black person. They get the free pass. If this was a white man and his pastor was his friend for 20 years and was great friends with the leader of the KKK there would be a firestorm to have this man removed and that is a fact. You have Ali Sharpton on Fox & Friends this morning giving excuses for the racism instead of outrage. It is all BS and we are tired of it time for it all to stop. Racism is racism no matter who it comes from and they should be removed the same way as all others have been done! And no one cares who this man has offended you don’t here that. Because they clearly don’t care. They always bring up slavery and if they want to do that why not put the blame on the source and that is there own in Africa who started slavery and sold them to the white man. Slavery still goes on in Africa to this day! Slavery was started by the black man but you want hear that fact!
Isn?t it ironic that Mitt Romney was drummed out of the campaign for belonging to a ?radical cult? but if you compare the sedate nature of an LDS sacrament meeting to the raucousness of the ?Reverend? Jeremiah Wrights church then you have to ask, ?So which one is the radical cult again??.
Key: Obama’s big drawing card is his arational, emotional appeal to people who are arational and emotional. Sadly, that may well be a majority of the electorate, given the accelerating rate of illiteracy (and even worse, subliterates who think they can read, but who cannot understand what they read or reason from it) in adult Americans.
Now, the real question is this: can he make a strong enough emotional appeal to enough people who “just wanna get along” (or whatever excuse for lazy thinking) to stay viable or will there be a backlash against him from emotional, arational folks who just don’t like the hate speech of his pastor, his “spiritual mentor”… or his color?
In any case, watch for him to make disingenuous appeals to emotion, not reason. Oh, he may sound reasonable to folks who are already predisposed to agree with him (or who just can’t think their way out of a wet paper bag), but it’ll be a disingenuous, arational appeal to emotion.
Just what he does best.
Watching the Donks kill themselves trying to kill each other is proving to be some serious fun.
If our own party hadn’t nominated one of them, we might have been able to find a way out of the bigger mess the Donks and RINOs have gotten us into.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
“Why Is Obama Talking About Race Tomorrow?†There isn’t anything to talk about. Don’t get distracted. The issue to American voters is whether he has spoken the truth in his statement on the Rev. Wright. Everyone would hope he could convince. He just have to try harder because many have already harbored deep doubt.
I think this is futile effort on Obama’s part. There is nothing he can say to justify or explain Wright’s hateful speech. It’s sorta like “Who’re you gonna believe: me or your lyin’ eyes?” We’ve all seen the tapes, saw his demeanor, and heard his words. It is what it is.
Obama’s speech is going to provide more opportunity for him to be mocked. I just don’t see any way for him to overcome this.
Get out the magnifying glass cause Obama is only at the beginning of his scrutiny. Obama was acceptable to the general populace as long as he was an educated well spoken and all inclusive likeable Black Man. Now that he is showing flaws, like being linked to a radical preacher lots of people who voted for him instead of Hillary are having buyers remorse. And, I’m not sure that even if his speech about this situation is a home run (which I don’t believe ti will be)the cracks are going to start to leak. And, with enough additional info about the rather “light weight” junior senator surely to be exposed he may snatch a Democratic defeat from the jaws of victory if he is the nominee.