Quote:
Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
Am I the only one who doesn't think this is at all a big deal? The race stuff, the pastor's comments, etc?
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I have already posted a lot on this thread, but have been giving it much thought as well in recent days and your question gets to what has been foremost in my mind.
I think it is a very big deal, but not in the context of Obama.
In practical terms, I think this hurts him very much in a general election- but unfairly to an extent as I think my posts have indicated- but the fact it might hurt him gets to why I think Rev. Wright's comments are a very big deal.
The big deal is that Wright's comments are not all that rare and they expose an anger and sense of injustice in the African-American community that the rest of us rarely see and find hard to understand.
Obama is not guilty of a moral lack of judgement here. He is instead guilty of a strategic error in making his alignment with his church a huge part of how he expressed who he was. It was the same mistake Kerrey made when shrouding himself in the flag as a Vietnam veteran- though I would argue Kerrey did make poor moral decisions as well.
How many of you can tell me who Hillary or John McCain's pastors are? Doing things like this ties you to third parties and everything they may have said. It actually worked to Obama's favor, and I believe it was sincere on his part, but now it is coming back to haunt him.
But back to Wright- it is hard for people of my generation to understand the very real and justified feelings Wright was getting to with those comments of his. We were not around for Jim Crow. While the inequalities today are hard to miss, they are also not as starkly obvious plus many people- myself included- know a great many African-Americans who are financially and professionally successful and face just as much hatred from their bretheren for being "Toms" as they face from some white people whose brains stopped working in the 1950s.
I have tried to understand a lot of Wright's perspective- and I find the best place to look is recordings of old comedy routines. Sounds silly I know- but Redd Fox, Richard Pryor, LaWanda Page and Moms Mabley are 4 people whose words recorded in a different time have informed much of my attempt to understand why someone like Wright can be so incredibly divisive but also so right in certain ways.
The venue helps. A comedy show is there to make you laugh and so it is easier to listen to, laugh at- and then think about afterwards. Once someone makes you laugh, they can make you think.
But for people like me in my general background and age- to see a pastor express that same injustice in angry words is not only hard to comprehend, but it is downright frightening.
It is frightening because it is a rawer and purer form of the sheer anger that still lingers.
Worse still, one wonders how to deal with the underlying cause of the anger.
America's greatness is based on the notion that anyone can come here and excel. The American Dream is there for all.
It was there for the Chinese, Irish and Italians when they came over in the late 1800s to early 1900s. It was there for the Jews who came here in the first half of the twentieth century. And it is there for the many Mexican, Central American, South American, Asian and Middle Eastern people who come here today.
But it has NEVER been there in full spirit for native Americans or for African-Americans.
I think much of this has to do with how the collective general masses of "Americans" at given points interacted with these 2 groups. Native Americans were our fatal enemies, and African-Americans were our slaves.
And given how many other general ethnic groups have come here and eventually been able to assimilate- I have to think those initial interactions are the real key to what is wrong.
As much as I dislike what Wright had to say, the more I think about it- the more I think his words are important. And as someone who likes shock value more than most people, I have to appreciate his methods intellectually.
I still think Obama is caught in a bad strategic decision, but I have to admit that with regards to Reverend Wright my mind has been changed thank to this thread.
And yet the scary question still exists- where do we go from here?
I don't know the answer to that, but it is safe to say that guys like Sean Hannity talking about "Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his racist preacher" gets an A+ for ratings, but an F- for being of any real use whatsoever.