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March 18, 2008
Obama's Mistake
Andrew Sullivan, Chris Matthews and the New York Times loved Barack Obama's speech on race and agree this should end the controversy over his former pastor's statements. On this blog, I've been relatively complimentary of Obama - even though I disagree vehemently with his policy ideas, I saw nothing to make me think he was anything other than a fundamentally decent human being.
Until now.
Obama's former pastor has said some vile, hateful things. This is what Obama had to say about some of those sermons:
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.This is an extremely clever use of language. He said he heard things that "could be considered" controversial, but then spent the rest of his speech telling us that what we thought was controversial is explainable due to the history of racial tension in the United States - that the ears of those outside the black church are 'untrained' and cannot understand what goes on in those congregations.
He's right. I don't understand what it's like to be a black man in America. However, I do know what's right and what's wrong, what's within the bounds of rational discourse and criticism of the country and what's not. Based on his sermons, Wright does not, and Obama's weak rationales of Wright's hatred makes me wonder whether the senator understands how vile Wright's words really are to those outside his church. On this, Ace really takes Obama apart.
All that said, I think Obama still gets the nomination. In many ways, this was a very clever speech and it will likely impress those for whom it was intended. This speech will win Obama the nomination, but it will cause him to lose the general. The views expressed by his pastor are simply too out of the mainstream, too repugnant for most Americans to accept.
Jim Geraghty asks an excellent question - if Obama was so troubled by Wright's words, why did he continue to allow his young daughters to attend the church and be exposed to Wright's conspiracy-mongering hatred? I'm the father of a daughter, and I can't imagine making such a decision. That Obama did does not speak well of him.
Posted by slublog at March 18, 2008 10:52 PM
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Comments
The thing that saddens me most about this is that this is a man who, instead of preaching and teaching the gospel of Christ, has instead abused his position for decades to push a political agenda based on anger and prejudice. It's a disgrace to the church that such men be given positions of honor.
Posted by: Hal at March 19, 2008 11:35 AM