Obama's Speech in Response to the Wright Controversy

Then Obama got a lot of work to do now doesn't he to change his perception until now and November. But, so far he's dropped the ball.

 

The bottom line is...

A guy with a muslim sounding last name puts himself in a bad position by calling a guy that is running around saying God Damn America his mentor. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that is a political nightmare for any candidate.

 

mentor?

 

Yet Obama supporters have been saying for months now that Clinton should drop out.

 

How many months?

 

I haven't had a chance to read through this thread but my two cents are it was a great speech but one that Obama should've delivered much earlier. The Wright controversy actually first surfaced back in November. He should've confronted it head on then.

The other problem though with this situation is that Obama is trying to tread carefully here. He is trying to show that while he doesn't agree with Wright he can't throw him under the bus either. That is something that could dog him later on as compared to if he just completely denounced all ties to Wright. In an odd way I think this is similar to Clinton's vote on authorization for Iraq. She has been denouncing the war but hasn't said that she regrets her vote or was a mistake. In the same way Obama is saying he denounces Wright's inflammatory comments but not the man himself. In both situations there are oppenings for opponents to exploit.

In regard to where the campaign goes from now I'm not so sure. Obama delivered a great speech but great speeches haven't been Obama's problem. It is how much does the public really know about him. The one thing I would worry about is whether another skeleton might come out of the closet.

As I've said I'm still not supporting Obama but I believe that it is better for him to have things like this come out now than later where he has a chance to address them.

 

My mistake. I meant weeks not months.

 

Spiritual mentor.

 

Or give another speech about blaming Bush and Hillary to change the subject.

 

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_...e_malkin/say_goodbye_to_the_glowbama_mystique

Say Goodbye to the Glowbama Mystique
By Michelle Malkin
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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Barack Obama -- the self-anointed soul-fixing, nation-healing political Messiah -- has lost his glow. That is the takeaway from the beleaguered Democratic presidential candidate's "major" speech in Philadelphia yesterday.

For all of his supposedly unique and transcendent understanding of race in America, Obama's talk amounted to the same old, same old. The Glowbama mystique has gone the way of the Emperor's clothes. Instead of accountability, we got excuses. Instead of disavowal of demagoguery, we got whacked with the moral equivalence card. Instead of rejecting the Blame America mantra of left-wing black nationalism, we got more Blame Whitey. Same old, same old.

For two decades, Obama tethered himself to a fire-breathing pastor peddling bitter Marxist "black liberation theology" in the name of God. Behind the "audacity of hope" was a grievance-mongering preacher animated by the voracity of hate. And understand this: The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama were not merely passing "associates." They were mentor and mentee, guru and student, with fates and fortunes intertwined.

For two decades, while using the church to build his Chicago power base and credibility in the black community, Obama turned a deaf ear to Wright's AIDS conspiracy theories, class warfare rants, anti-Israel, anti-white raves, and "God damn America" diatribes. These weren't occasional outbursts. They were the bread and butter of the Trinity United Church of Christ. Now, Obama blames "talk show hosts and conservative commentators" for exposing Wright's race-based rancor. Audacious, indeed.

On Friday, Obama attempted to minimize the extent to which he had been exposed to Wright's poisonous politicking on the pulpit. "None of these statements were ones that I had heard myself personally in the pews," he told Major Garrett of Fox News. "The other statements were ones that I just heard about while we were -- when they started being run on FOX and some of the other stations. And so they weren't things that I was familiar with."

Yesterday, Obama changed his tune: "I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. 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."

The clever Sen. Obama has attempted to erect a firewall of protection from probing questions about which remarks he heard and tolerated and failed to object to while sitting in the pews. Dwelling on what he knew and where and when, he argued yesterday, would be "to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality."

But it is Obama's pastor ("former" pastor, he is so quick to point out now, though he is a two-decade-long mentor) who holds a warped view of reality. And it is Obama who distorts the truth by likening this Ward Churchill of the United Church of Christ to an avuncular, yet lovable, family member who cannot easily be renounced:

"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Glad to know something made Obama cringe.

Even as he denied that he was justifying and excusing Wright's demagoguery, Obama was doing just that by invoking slavery, Jim Crow, segregated schools, violence in the inner city and, yes, denial of access to FHA mortgages, to explain how we get to Wright spewing "God damn America" on Sunday morning.

"These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love," Obama declared rather stiffly as he stood self-consciously in front of more American flags that he has ever been placed in front of this campaign season.

Well, you can't pick your grandma, but you can pick your pastor. And Obama picked the wrong one if he aspires to be the president of all America -- an America that includes citizens of all colors who cringe at self-serving racial rationalizations masquerading as moral salvation.

 

We get it. You don't like Obama.

And now for a little comparative on judgment...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter7.html

 

Well, you can't pick your grandma, but you can pick your pastor. And Obama picked the wrong one if he aspires to be the president of all America -- an America that includes citizens of all colors who cringe at self-serving racial rationalizations masquerading as moral salvation.

B14....I12.....G21 Bingo, we have a winner.

 

One more post and you'll reach 100 in this thread!

 

Just like your man Obama, you too want to change the subject....

I would claim this is my 100th post in this thread but I don't want to called out on it if I'm wrong.

 

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/03/19/what-obama-should-have-said-about-wright-race

What Obama Should Have Said About Wright and Race
By Noel Sheppard | March 19, 2008 - 09:18 ET

Despite the glowing praise from supposedly impartial press representatives across the fruited plain, March 18, 2008 could go down in history as the day Barack Obama destroyed his chances of becoming the first black President of the United States.
Americans shouldn't be fooled by all the predictable fawning from the usual suspects in the mainstream media, for this was not a shining moment for the well-spoken gentleman that has generated so much enthusiasm around the country.

Rather than using his Rev. Jeremiah Wright mea culpa speech in Philadelphia Tuesday as an opportunity to demonstrably move race relations in this nation toward a brighter future, the junior senator from Illinois employed tired clichés to dredge up a past that most Americans only experienced in their history books and want desperately to move beyond.

If this is change we can believe in, Martin Luther King Jr. must be rolling over in his grave.

Consider for example the following words uttered by Obama early in his speech that won't likely be reported by press members unashamedly on his bandwagon:


[The Constitution of the United States] was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery...

The Constitution was stained?

Is telling Americans that the most important document in their history was stained a way to begin a speech that was supposed to address Obama's connections to a bigoted, hateful pastor? Is this how the presidential candidate and his media minions think he's going to unite the nation, by bringing up hundred year old images of slavery?

Forgive me, Senator, but this rhetoric is what has been spewing from the mouths of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton since Martin Luther King Jr. was shot 40 years ago, and is quite responsible for why race relations haven't improved much since.

Sadly, Obama wasn't done trying to shame Americans for a past most currently alive had no part of:

But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

This coming from a black man that went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, married a black woman who went to Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and had a combined household income of $1.7 million in 2005.

It seems the wealth, income, and education gap Obama spoke of hasn't harmed him or his family. You think media will point out this delicious hypocrisy?

No, I don't either.

Regardless, having painted a picture of the United States certainly different than the one that has offered him opportunity and prosperity beyond most Americans' wildest dreams be they black or white, Obama flipped the race card over:

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community...Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition? And here I thought the Reagan revolution was inspired by promises of lower taxes, less government interference in people's lives, and a strong national defense.

Silly me.


Do Obama and his media minions really think suggesting Ronald Reagan's success was a function of white anger will endear him to white voters? Is this what they believe will unify our nation? Or accusing conservative commentators of "unmasking bogus claims of racism?"

This is change we can believe in?

Of course, this type of nonsense works well with liberals such as Chris Matthews who called Obama's speech "worthy of Abraham Lincoln." What should we expect of a man who admitted that Barack's oratory gives him a thrill up his leg?

Not to be outdone, the New York Times and the broadcast networks also gushed over Obama's remarks. Yet, despite such unapologetic sycophancy, how will implying that one of America's most beloved presidents is responsible for racism play in Peoria?

More importantly, how much different is this from the tenor of much of the controversial statements made by Obama's pastor?

Think about it: to a certain extent, Obama tried to explain Wright's hateful rhetoric with somewhat similar hateful rhetoric, albeit toned down for a wider audience than that which sits in the pews at Trinity Church.

This brings to mind Cyrano de Bergerac's response to Valvert's simplistic assertion that his nose was "rather large."

After all, in settling the Wright controversy on such an enormous stage with the entire country hanging anxiously on his every utterance, Obama "might have said, oh a great many things." Why waste such a marvelous opportunity with the same monotonous, racist trivialities the country has been exposed to by the likes of Jackson and Sharpton for so many decades?

Mon dieu.

For example, thus:

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been part of my life for twenty years, and no one has had a bigger impact on my faith than he. However, I am quitting his church, because his kind of hateful rhetoric is part of the problem in our country, and race relations will never improve as long as black people condone speeches that continually blame white people and the United States for all the world's ills.

America has given me, my wife, and my family almost unthinkable opportunities, and we are extraordinarily grateful. Such is available to all in our nation that are willing to work hard. In fact, what the success of my presidential campaign up to this point demonstrates is that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is very close to becoming a reality.

Of course, there is still a lot left for us to do for his vision to fully materialize. First and foremost, African-Americans around the country must immediately denounce the anti-American and anti-white rhetoric that is so common in our churches and our music. If we really want there to be one America, we have to start behaving like that's the case rather than constantly depicting ourselves as victims.

When I am president, I will work tirelessly to make this happen. Thank you, and God Bless America.

With such words or something similar, Obama might have not only sealed the nomination, but also made himself almost unbeatable in November.

Instead, the junior senator from Illinois showed the nation that he really doesn't disagree much if at all with Wright's hateful rhetoric. He's just sorry the country was exposed to so much of it during his quest for the White House.

Despite the hopes of many Americans spellbound enough by his exemplary elocution skills that they believe he can finally improve race relations in this country, Obama showed himself to be nothing more than the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton. This will come as a great shock and maybe even greater disappointment to millions of Americans on both sides of the aisle.

Though there are likely few Republicans who will vote for Obama if he wins the Democrat nomination, there are plenty that would be very proud of our nation if a black man was elected president, especially if he could end our racial divide.

Count me amongst them.

Sadly, it now appears Obama is as capable of doing this as Rev. Wright. Too bad.

 

Really offensive black preachers can support Clinton, too.

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Leave it up to Michelle Malking to get it wrong every time. I guess she must not have heard the speech. For her to claim Obama was excusing, and justifying what Wright said is silly. He plainly stated how wrong it was, and made no excuses about it.

That was just from the first glance at her article without reading the whole thing.

 

Whether he wins even the democratic nomination or not I think he has focused the awakening sentiments of a new generation. He is the most prominent leader right now by far, but what he’s doing is expressing the growing/emerging sentiments/new worldview that a great many of us share. His power rests on those of us who support what he stands for. If he falls short, or if, God forbid, they assassinate him, then those of us who share his view of the future need to make sure that two more rise up in his place, and that has to go all the way down to the grassroots level.

Obama is having a similar impact in Canada, btw. Here are some reader comments from one of Canada’s national newspapers, the Globe & Mail. Note that there are some Americans who’ve posted here too, and note the presence of a few right wing spin doctors as well. I suspect that Basso is a paid propagandist on this board, who probably works other boards as well, and you’ll see a similar posting style from a couple of the posters in this thread. I don’t think that it necessarily is basso in this thread, but I do think the Republicans have people working the discussion boards with some scripted spin, and they may have been doing this for quite a while now.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...19/CommentStory/usElection2008/home/#comments

 

In times of great uncertainty of looming crisis....we stick to what we know best.

Now let's banish this evil Wright guy before he makes Obama too scary a candidate! This judgement of Obama's totally tells you how he'll deal with Iraq and healthcare....

He'll give it all to the blacks!