Barack Obama and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright: The “Race Card” is finally played!
I wondered how long it was going to take to play the Race Card, but it finally got it’s play with the recent flurry of concern over Reverend Jeremiah Wright! This time it came in the back door by way of religion, in particular, the Trinity United Church of Christ and The the clips of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Some of you may ask why this apparent outburst by Reverend Wright raises up the question of race? It’s not race, it’s religion…right? No, it has more to do with race than it does with religion.
Barack Obama has repudiated Reverend Wright’s recent remarks on April 29th, once and for all, but it opens a double standard as Barack Obama must repudiate what other Afro-Americans say, while on the other hand, John McCain is given a pass for his embrace of Pastor John Hagee. The Reverend John Hagee has spoken out as outrageously as Wright, from degrading women with PMS to his biting remark after meeting with Black Religious Leaders that he might come home with a slave! So why does McCain escape Pastor Hagee’s remarks while Obama is burned at the stake by those of Reverend Wright? Unfortunately, it comes right down to the fact that McCain and Hagee are white and Obama and Wright are black! In Philadelphia on March 18th, Obama made a brilliant speech on the subject of race. Unfortunately, the cloud of suspicion now hangs over Obama’s Campaign, as the remarks and the association with Reverend Wright continue to be the topic of conversation for both the Media and General Public.
If you saw and heard Bill Moyers Journal with Reverend Jeremiah Wright on April 25th, you get a much better idea as to who Reverend Wright is and what he is saying. Wright comes from the generation of Afro-Americans who struggled through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It was that generation who fought for equality and finally got it after living under the oppression of Segregation, both in the North as well as in the South. If you are under 50 years old, you don’t remember it! You’ve only read about it! Barack Obama comes from the generation of Afro-Americans who benefited from that struggle and want to take it to the next step, which transcends color into assimilation. Wright, and many other Black Theologians preach The Black Theology of Liberation, of which most of “White America” is totally ignorant. This is an old and long tradition in the Black Church and has played an important role in many Black American lives. The message of Black Theology is how to interpret The Scriptures to be relevant to the Black Experience in America. Wright is from this tradition and is not ashamed of it. That lack of shame unfortunately has become a matter of ego and conceit.
Even Wright has said that there are those who are using him to destroy Obama, as they paint him a fanatic. Unfortunately, Wright has fallen into a trap where his ego is larger than his common sense. If even he is aware of the damage that awaits Obama and his involvement with Wright, he has had a strange way of dealing with it. “Race” will be and has been a factor in this election. There are those who will never vote for a person of color, no matter what anyone says. Barack Obama has, up to now, been able to breach this problem by widening his base of support to overcome the negative impact of the “race card.” The question now is whether Wright’s opening of Pandora’s Box will eventually destroy Obama’s Campaign. Polls indicate that already has, but this may be a temporary bump in the road to the White House. Obama’s speech in Philadelphia on March 18th was a giant step in ”bridging the divide across a chasm on misunderstanding” wrote columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times. Meanwhile, Barack Obama as totally repudiated Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but will that be enough? That answer will come from the voters of America in the days to come. To listen to Obama's repudiation of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, you can watch it in the video below:
Comments
From the outset of the Obama
From the outset of the Obama campaign, I considered this would be the race-card campaign.
Perhaps, such a comment is one that would profile me as bearing a prejudice. So be it. I’ll put to the side that I was on the Massachusetts committee to draft Colin Powell eight years ago. And that was only pertinent to eight years ago.
However, what commotion is raised currently has developed out of the relationship with that place where he practiced his religion. Please note that I regard him as a man practicing his religion.
I’ll immediately dispense with the relativity trap of slipping in a man such as Hagee who has endorsed John McCain. And with that, I’ll free Senator Obama from Reverend Wright to the same degree. The only difference is that the degree of association of Senator Obama with Reverend has been far more intimate, and for a reasonable period time, quite advantageous.
In the case of each clergyman his community can say a lot. (I think of the “FBI Bog Monks” [FBI - foreign-born-Irish], insinuating into the Holy Thursday liturgy, when the Nazarene suggests that among “The Twelve” “one of you will betray me”. As the story goes, a voice chimes out, “Blimey, Guv’nah, tis it I?”. Hardly, would reasonable people consider that homily suitable for reflection.)
What I find in this episode, and a few others regarding associates he has elected for himself, is, however, that there still seems to be a great deal about the Illinois Senator that is still being put together. Those associates, too, already howled and bayed at, I’ll place aside with the exception of anticipating the arguments that he will most likely use to show how he can overcome them. (His drama advisors will guide him through that.)
Quite appropriate is citing his speech on Race. However, I recall that the day or two before that, when asked about his relationship with Reverend Wright and the affect upon him of the “Black Liberation Theology” espoused, he tensely flipped off the press with, “I’ll be making a speech about that.” And he did, quite eloquently yield up for the country a treatise on “Race” that was laced as though it was “Holy Writ”. My observation of that moment, paralleled what I’ve noticed over the past few months - He’s a scripted entry. Spontaneity is not his strong point and he still seems to be trying to identify with whom he would be.
Few things raise my enthusiasm artificially. I might be enthralled at a ball-game if hit on the head by a line drive. Turn of phrase and rhetoric intrigue me when I can track the successful use of terminology.
Obama entertains me that way. He’s good. Damn good at it. But, so far, I find him saying nothing. (Gawd, how many times I’ve been so polite at rubber-chicken-dinners.) I’ll even give the exception; it’s a long road and the speaker’s tired. But we usually have a summary of the orator’s background; that which allows us to recognize some substance before and beyond his words.
In summary a race-card is being played, no dealt, in this election. It’s almost as though we’re being tested for our grasp of affirmative action. Whatever is behind this candidate is daring us to say no. Cards don’t deal themselves. The country is being dictated to commit an act of exaggerated largesse; forget the absence of substance. People will vote for Obama for no other reason than they’re being told they should.
Oh, yes. Liberation Theology is an expression whereby the free-will of each concept contradicts itself in practice. Whether it’s touted in Black churches or Latin America it fails. In most cases, it has indemnified tragedy.
With the exception of the just the last two sentences, I hope I have not disparaged how a person deals with either faith or lack thereof.
There was no way the “Race
There was no way the “Race Card” was NOT going to be played……what’s interesting is how it was played, through Reverend Wright. You’re correct in your remarks regarding substance, or the lack of it from Barack Obama. One of main problems with Obama’s campaign has been that it has been full of rhetoric and lacking in substance. As the campaign goes on, we’re getting more from the Obama Campaign, but not enough. Obama is an unknown….we really don’t know that much about him. Is he a “Born Again Christian?” Where does he actually stand on Liberation Theology? To quote Clark Gable, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” I really am not interested in the religion of a candidate, unless he or she is using it in their candidacy. We spend too much time discussing religion in this country and wasting even more time trying to prove to the voters that we are religious. We’ve seen the results of “Having Religion” from the present Bush Administration! What I do disagree is that voters will vote for Obama because they are told to do so. If that handle could be dropped on any of the candidates, it would fall around John McCain’s neck. McCain is the “default” candidate, and will be the recipient of those votes directed by the “Religious Right.” If Obama is the Democratic Candidate, he is going to have to sell himself as deserving of your vote. The “Unknown” factor will play a major role in the 2008 Presidential Election, and that’s where Obama has his work cut out for him.
I agree with your assessment
I agree with your assessment that Obama's speech was wonderful. Romney;s speech was also good. Prejudice and bigotry are American traits unfortunately. They are also in many other countries, many our allies. Religion teaches it even though it teaches against it. The spearation of church and state is necessary to avoid this prejudice bigotry. Too bad it has been violated in the current administration. If the country continues to debate religion as a part of who governs us, it will miss the point of debating the really important things that need attention to keep our country economically strong and our people free with their inallienable rights other than to bear arms.
Keeping the discussion
Keeping the discussion around sound bites and distracting the debate from the issues has been a problem in this campaign, as well as previous ones, particularly in 2004. This election should be all about the issues, as they will define where this nation goes, not only for the next four years, but well into the Twentieth Century. All three candidates have an Achilles Heel, Obama…Race, Clinton….Gender and McCain…Age. Let’s hope that the candidates of both parties will deal with the issues and not resort to name calling. If left to themselves, they will, as all three candidates, whether you like them or not, are sincere, and believe in their respective positions. The question is whether the Media and the “Influence Peddlers” will allow it?
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