Joe Wilson's blurtout last week lit a fuse to set off a slow-motion exposure of race in the national anti-Obama rage.
Today the House Black Caucus takes the lead in censuring the South Carolina Congressman with what are clearly mixed feelings about dealing publicly with an issue that seemed to have been settled by the inauguration of a "post-racial" president only a few months ago.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn has refused to call the "You lie" outburst racist, skirting the issue by telling reporters only that Obama is the first president to be treated that way, but other members of the Caucus are less circumspect.
"We've got to realize," says Georgia Rep. David Scott, "racism is playing a role here. I'm hopeful that this will be a wake-up call for us to get it off the table."
Such ambivalence reflects ancient fears of feeding prejudice by calling public attention to it, a dilemma long discussed privately by Jews over anti-Semitism.
During the election campaign, Barack Obama avoided race until the furor over Rev. Jeremiah Wright forced him to make his cathartic speech on the subject, and last week he tried to dismiss the Wilson uproar by quickly accepting his "apology."
Yet, in the savagery of some of the opposition to the President's policies, the elephant in the room is roaring too loudly to ignore.
On the PBS News Hour last night, conservative columnist Ross Douthat acknowledged that "clearly Barack Obama's race plays some role in the kind of--you know, the kind of anxieties and so forth that are roiling the political right."
African-American moderator Gwen Ifill had asked black Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson about the violent opposition to health care reform, "Is there something about this presidency which brings that out?" and she had replied, "I don't know if it's this presidency; I hate to think that it is."
So do we all, but it won't go away by not talking about it. Time to revive the bromide about sunlight as the best disinfectant.
Showing posts with label Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Racial Politics, Hot and Cool
In saying a policeman acted "stupidly" in arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr., President Obama has uncharacteristically inflamed a minor incident and revived last year's idiotic debate about whether or not he is "black enough" to suit African-Americans or, on the other hand, too black for those who see the world primarily in racial terms.
Until Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. became a campaign issue, Obama seemed intent on minimizing race and inviting voters to judge him as a "post-racial" candidate, but his cool approach was temporarily derailed by his pastor's inflammatory rhetoric and now again by his friend's histrionic temperament.
On Bill Maher's show and in other TV venues, Gates presents himself as a brilliant scholar who, like Wright and unlike Obama, tends to dramatize racial discussions--and himself-- in ways that can make even those who agree with him uncomfortable.
The escalation of his encounter with a Cambridge policeman has all the earmarks of an incident that could easily been avoided. If race were not involved, Gates' neighbor might have been less zealous in calling police at the sight of two men forcing open a door in broad daylight, and the responding officer more circumspect in confronting unarmed suspects, but Gates' affront at being questioned and his confrontational attitude seem likely to have been part of the "stupidity" the President was quick to condemn without knowing all the facts.
Now that all charges have been dropped and Gates and the policeman, who ironically teaches others about the complexities of racial profiling, have vented in the media, Barack Obama may want to revert to his cool and conciliatory approach to racial tensions--and think twice about elevating a minor incident to a national issue, leaving that work to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and those who work full-time at it.
Until Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. became a campaign issue, Obama seemed intent on minimizing race and inviting voters to judge him as a "post-racial" candidate, but his cool approach was temporarily derailed by his pastor's inflammatory rhetoric and now again by his friend's histrionic temperament.
On Bill Maher's show and in other TV venues, Gates presents himself as a brilliant scholar who, like Wright and unlike Obama, tends to dramatize racial discussions--and himself-- in ways that can make even those who agree with him uncomfortable.
The escalation of his encounter with a Cambridge policeman has all the earmarks of an incident that could easily been avoided. If race were not involved, Gates' neighbor might have been less zealous in calling police at the sight of two men forcing open a door in broad daylight, and the responding officer more circumspect in confronting unarmed suspects, but Gates' affront at being questioned and his confrontational attitude seem likely to have been part of the "stupidity" the President was quick to condemn without knowing all the facts.
Now that all charges have been dropped and Gates and the policeman, who ironically teaches others about the complexities of racial profiling, have vented in the media, Barack Obama may want to revert to his cool and conciliatory approach to racial tensions--and think twice about elevating a minor incident to a national issue, leaving that work to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and those who work full-time at it.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Jeremiah Wright to the Rescue
With the killings of a Kansas abortion doctor and at the Holocaust Museum, group hatred in this year of Change was losing its bipartisan flavor, but here comes Barack Obama's former pastor from stage left to restore some balance and, insofar as the subject allows, comic relief.
As usual, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's entrance involves tongue-tripping. After telling a reporter that "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me," Rev. Wright has clarified his estrangement from the President to explain that he meant "Zionists," which of course makes all the difference in the world to such Obama advisers of the Hebrew persuasion as Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.
Even if, as the President keeps saying, words matter, Wright's bombast can't be equated with bullets from the Far Right, but it can serve as a reminder that reductive stupidity and scapegoating come from all directions in American society, as they always have.
The flavor of the day in zeitgests is what Paul Krugman calls "The Big Hate," an upsurge of "right-wing extremism...being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment."
But given the coincidence of widespread economic fears and the installation of an African-American president, it doesn't take Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck et al to revive traditional American mistrust of "others" and blame them for misfortunes.
Yes, there were hateful words behind the actions of those lone demented gunmen, but Rev. Wright's reappearance provides a moment of déjà vu that such talk does not inevitably lead to disastrous actions.
Barack Obama overcame it to win the White House, and what he is doing there will determine the future. Meanwhile, as the old Arab proverb says, the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
As usual, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's entrance involves tongue-tripping. After telling a reporter that "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me," Rev. Wright has clarified his estrangement from the President to explain that he meant "Zionists," which of course makes all the difference in the world to such Obama advisers of the Hebrew persuasion as Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.
Even if, as the President keeps saying, words matter, Wright's bombast can't be equated with bullets from the Far Right, but it can serve as a reminder that reductive stupidity and scapegoating come from all directions in American society, as they always have.
The flavor of the day in zeitgests is what Paul Krugman calls "The Big Hate," an upsurge of "right-wing extremism...being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment."
But given the coincidence of widespread economic fears and the installation of an African-American president, it doesn't take Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck et al to revive traditional American mistrust of "others" and blame them for misfortunes.
Yes, there were hateful words behind the actions of those lone demented gunmen, but Rev. Wright's reappearance provides a moment of déjà vu that such talk does not inevitably lead to disastrous actions.
Barack Obama overcame it to win the White House, and what he is doing there will determine the future. Meanwhile, as the old Arab proverb says, the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Race Race: The Final Lap
As his campaign dances at the edge of the subject, John McCain shies away but it is the Obama campaign that is confronting the racial issue directly.
After John Lewis' blunderbuss approach backfired last weekend, it is AFL-CIO leaders who are encouraging "blunt face-to-face encounter(s) to deal with those who say they can't support the Democratic presidential nominee because of the color of his skin."
In Ohio, the president of a government workers' union tells a rally: "(I)t comes out like this: 'I can't vote for him because he is a black man. He's not one of us.' Well, sisters and brothers, when you hear that, you know what you ought to say? This is what I say: 'That is bullshit! That is total, absolute bullshit!'"
The AFL-CIO campaign will make 70 million phone calls to union households in key presidential and congressional battlegrounds and mail 25 million pieces to rebut rumors that Obama isn't a Christian, wasn't born in the United States or was sworn into the Senate with his hand on a Quran. (Mailings show Obama being sworn by Dick Cheney, his hand on a Bible.)
Meanwhile, McCain dithers about race, joining in the William Ayers attacks but dodging questions about hitting Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as less fastidious conservatives like Tucker Carlson are urging him to do.
At tomorrow night's debate, the subject is sure to come up and both candidates will have a chance to drag it out into the open once and for all.
After John Lewis' blunderbuss approach backfired last weekend, it is AFL-CIO leaders who are encouraging "blunt face-to-face encounter(s) to deal with those who say they can't support the Democratic presidential nominee because of the color of his skin."
In Ohio, the president of a government workers' union tells a rally: "(I)t comes out like this: 'I can't vote for him because he is a black man. He's not one of us.' Well, sisters and brothers, when you hear that, you know what you ought to say? This is what I say: 'That is bullshit! That is total, absolute bullshit!'"
The AFL-CIO campaign will make 70 million phone calls to union households in key presidential and congressional battlegrounds and mail 25 million pieces to rebut rumors that Obama isn't a Christian, wasn't born in the United States or was sworn into the Senate with his hand on a Quran. (Mailings show Obama being sworn by Dick Cheney, his hand on a Bible.)
Meanwhile, McCain dithers about race, joining in the William Ayers attacks but dodging questions about hitting Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as less fastidious conservatives like Tucker Carlson are urging him to do.
At tomorrow night's debate, the subject is sure to come up and both candidates will have a chance to drag it out into the open once and for all.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
The Obama-Bill Clinton Thing
All along, below the radar of contesting Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama has been matched up with her husband in a battle of both substance and style that reflects generational differences.
Now, at the end of Jeremiah Wright Week, as Obama is out there doing TV interviews to stop his slide in the polls, the contrasts with Bill Clinton are coming into sharper focus.
In his speech on race in Philadelphia, Obama tried to put the Wright YouTube clips into context--an admirable trait in a president but treacherous for a candidate, as it soon proved to be.
Contrast this with Bill Clinton's Sister Souljah moment in 1992. Granted, Clinton had no previous connection with her, but, after her inflammatory rhetoric about white people after the Los Angeles riots, he didn't hesitate to make political points by condemning her for black racism at a meeting of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition.
That's what politicians do. But Obama, by trying to address the issue of race seriously before Wright's antics forced his hand, has been politically wounded by not throwing his pastor to the media wolves as soon as the issue surfaced.
It's this serious deliberation that seems to rankle Bill Clinton most. In New Hampshire, he branded Obama's opposition to the Iraq war as a "fairy tale." After South Carolina, the former president pooh-poohed Obama's victory by pairing him with Jesse Jackson and, when he was criticized for it, claimed that Obama was playing the "race card" on him.
Now on a shorter leash after embarrassing Hillary's campaign, Bill Clinton is out there less visibly using his old-politics style in North Carolina and Indiana. It's as if Obama's surge toward the nomination with a new kind of appeal to younger voters is a personal affront.
Bill Clinton is telling his generation that "once you've reached a certain age, you won't sit there and listen to somebody tell you there's really no difference between what happened in the Bush years and the Clinton years."
But what seems to bother him most is the potential difference between both those eras and what might become the Obama years.
Now, at the end of Jeremiah Wright Week, as Obama is out there doing TV interviews to stop his slide in the polls, the contrasts with Bill Clinton are coming into sharper focus.
In his speech on race in Philadelphia, Obama tried to put the Wright YouTube clips into context--an admirable trait in a president but treacherous for a candidate, as it soon proved to be.
Contrast this with Bill Clinton's Sister Souljah moment in 1992. Granted, Clinton had no previous connection with her, but, after her inflammatory rhetoric about white people after the Los Angeles riots, he didn't hesitate to make political points by condemning her for black racism at a meeting of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition.
That's what politicians do. But Obama, by trying to address the issue of race seriously before Wright's antics forced his hand, has been politically wounded by not throwing his pastor to the media wolves as soon as the issue surfaced.
It's this serious deliberation that seems to rankle Bill Clinton most. In New Hampshire, he branded Obama's opposition to the Iraq war as a "fairy tale." After South Carolina, the former president pooh-poohed Obama's victory by pairing him with Jesse Jackson and, when he was criticized for it, claimed that Obama was playing the "race card" on him.
Now on a shorter leash after embarrassing Hillary's campaign, Bill Clinton is out there less visibly using his old-politics style in North Carolina and Indiana. It's as if Obama's surge toward the nomination with a new kind of appeal to younger voters is a personal affront.
Bill Clinton is telling his generation that "once you've reached a certain age, you won't sit there and listen to somebody tell you there's really no difference between what happened in the Bush years and the Clinton years."
But what seems to bother him most is the potential difference between both those eras and what might become the Obama years.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Wright's Jeremiads
Bill Moyers did his best last night on PBS to put Barack Obama's controversial pastor into perspective. He succeeded in showing the man's brilliance but created unease in an observer who, by taste and temperament, is not attracted to apocalyptic preaching about the human condition.
From the interview, it's easy to see what Obama found in Jeremiah Wright and his church that gave a new dimension to his secular desire to help the poor and dispossessed during his early days in Chicago.
Wright's church apparently did and does good work in uplifting its community, but the social benefits come with a moral price--the preacher's selective view of good and evil in the political world.
Consider Wright's use of Martin Luther King to justify his own history. "Dr. King, of course, was vilified," he told Moyers, asserting that, after King talked about racism, militarism and capitalism, he was "ostracized not only by the majority of Americans in the press; he got vilified by his own community. They thought he had overstepped his bounds...He was vilified by all of the Negro leaders who felt he'd overstepped his bounds talking about an unjust war."
Martin Luther King's opposition to the war made him unpopular with Lyndon Johnson but not the rest of America, least of all African-Americans and, unlike Wright, he did not use it to condemn all of American history, from the mistreatment of Native Americans to plotting drug addiction in black communities.
The Rev. Wright's need to "damn" America leads him to a peculiar view of history. He goes back centuries to mine our national past for evil but, when asked about Louis Farrakhan's racist and anti-Semitic speech, dismisses it with "That was twenty years ago" and praises him for getting African-Americans off drugs and giving them self-respect.
Perhaps most troubling of all is his smiling intimation that Barack Obama is only distancing himself from his views for political expedience: "(W)hat happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bites, he responded as a politician. But he did not disown me because I'm a pastor."
From the interview, it's easy to see what Obama found in Jeremiah Wright and his church that gave a new dimension to his secular desire to help the poor and dispossessed during his early days in Chicago.
Wright's church apparently did and does good work in uplifting its community, but the social benefits come with a moral price--the preacher's selective view of good and evil in the political world.
Consider Wright's use of Martin Luther King to justify his own history. "Dr. King, of course, was vilified," he told Moyers, asserting that, after King talked about racism, militarism and capitalism, he was "ostracized not only by the majority of Americans in the press; he got vilified by his own community. They thought he had overstepped his bounds...He was vilified by all of the Negro leaders who felt he'd overstepped his bounds talking about an unjust war."
Martin Luther King's opposition to the war made him unpopular with Lyndon Johnson but not the rest of America, least of all African-Americans and, unlike Wright, he did not use it to condemn all of American history, from the mistreatment of Native Americans to plotting drug addiction in black communities.
The Rev. Wright's need to "damn" America leads him to a peculiar view of history. He goes back centuries to mine our national past for evil but, when asked about Louis Farrakhan's racist and anti-Semitic speech, dismisses it with "That was twenty years ago" and praises him for getting African-Americans off drugs and giving them self-respect.
Perhaps most troubling of all is his smiling intimation that Barack Obama is only distancing himself from his views for political expedience: "(W)hat happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bites, he responded as a politician. But he did not disown me because I'm a pastor."
Friday, April 25, 2008
Obama's Preening Pastor
What emerges from watching the endless YouTubing of Jeremiah Wright is not the picture of a religious or political fanatic but a world-class attention-seeker. In those operatic video clips, there is a dashiki-dressed performer playing to the crowd, a soulmate, not of Louis Farrakhan, but of Bill Maher, whose imprudent comments on 9/11 cost him his network gig.
Now Obama's pastor is back on stage, coming out of his recent retirement, with Bill Moyers on PBS tonight and at the National Press Club in Washington next Monday, flamboyantly defending himself to the possible political detriment of his former congregant:
"I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint?"
If Hillary Clinton's campaign were paying him, the Rev. Wright couldn't being doing more for them than to keep Obama's embarrassment front and center in the days leading up to the final critical primaries.
But we may be underestimating him. By continuing to call attention to himself, Wright may be deviously trying to show that Obama is not under the Svengali-like influence of a dangerous man, just bedeviled by the antics of a showoff.
If so, that would be too subtle for most voters. All that may register with them is Obama's unfortunate choice in a spiritual adviser.
Now Obama's pastor is back on stage, coming out of his recent retirement, with Bill Moyers on PBS tonight and at the National Press Club in Washington next Monday, flamboyantly defending himself to the possible political detriment of his former congregant:
"I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint?"
If Hillary Clinton's campaign were paying him, the Rev. Wright couldn't being doing more for them than to keep Obama's embarrassment front and center in the days leading up to the final critical primaries.
But we may be underestimating him. By continuing to call attention to himself, Wright may be deviously trying to show that Obama is not under the Svengali-like influence of a dangerous man, just bedeviled by the antics of a showoff.
If so, that would be too subtle for most voters. All that may register with them is Obama's unfortunate choice in a spiritual adviser.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Jeremiah Wright and James Carville
At the risk of being theologically incorrect, it's irresistible to point out a stylistic similarity between the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and that fire-and-brimstone preacher of the Church of Clinton, James Carville.
In his Easter sermon on Fox News, Carville thundered over the betrayal by Bill Richardson, a former member of the Clinton flock:
"Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."
Not quite "God damn America," but apocalyptic enough to make Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson distance himself from Carville's pronouncement as Barack Obama did from his pastor's more extreme expressions. "If I had said it," Wolfson confessed, "I would apologize."
In preaching to the choir, true believers sometimes get carried away, but their passion is undeniable and not negotiable.
The Rev. Carville did not back down in the face of criticism. "I wanted to use a very strong metaphor to make my point," he said. Rev. Wright would no doubt understand.
In his Easter sermon on Fox News, Carville thundered over the betrayal by Bill Richardson, a former member of the Clinton flock:
"Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."
Not quite "God damn America," but apocalyptic enough to make Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson distance himself from Carville's pronouncement as Barack Obama did from his pastor's more extreme expressions. "If I had said it," Wolfson confessed, "I would apologize."
In preaching to the choir, true believers sometimes get carried away, but their passion is undeniable and not negotiable.
The Rev. Carville did not back down in the face of criticism. "I wanted to use a very strong metaphor to make my point," he said. Rev. Wright would no doubt understand.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Bush-Obama Language Barrier
The man who coined "smoking gun, mushroom cloud" to justify Bush's push into Iraq thinks Barack Obama has not gone far enough to distance himself from the hyperbolic language of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
In today's Washington Post, former White House speech writer Michael Gerson says Obama's oration yesterday "fell short in significant ways" of separating himself from "a dangerous man" who has told lies about the US government.
Wright's claim that the AIDS virus was invented as a means of genocide against people of color, says Gerson, creates "an atmosphere of denial, quack science and conspiracy theories," in contrast, of course, to President Bush's scientifically grounded opposition to stem cell research.
In the 2004 campaign, Gerson had Bush railing against "the soft bigotry of low expectations" in belaboring schools with No Child Left Behind yardsticks as cover for attacking teachers unions that were supporting Democrats
Now, he asks, how can Obama associate himself with a "political extremist, holding views that are shocking to many Americans?"
If Gerson doesn't know the answer to that question, the voters may explain it to him and his former employer in November.
In today's Washington Post, former White House speech writer Michael Gerson says Obama's oration yesterday "fell short in significant ways" of separating himself from "a dangerous man" who has told lies about the US government.
Wright's claim that the AIDS virus was invented as a means of genocide against people of color, says Gerson, creates "an atmosphere of denial, quack science and conspiracy theories," in contrast, of course, to President Bush's scientifically grounded opposition to stem cell research.
In the 2004 campaign, Gerson had Bush railing against "the soft bigotry of low expectations" in belaboring schools with No Child Left Behind yardsticks as cover for attacking teachers unions that were supporting Democrats
Now, he asks, how can Obama associate himself with a "political extremist, holding views that are shocking to many Americans?"
If Gerson doesn't know the answer to that question, the voters may explain it to him and his former employer in November.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Testing the Power of "Just Words"
Until the ugliness started this month, race and gender were benign issues, at least on the surface, of the Democratic contest as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama congratulated themselves and each other for breaking through barriers of prejudice in American life.
But centuries of oppression, hatred and anger are not so easily wiped out by symbolic candidacies, and Obama is making the speech of his political life today to repair the damage to his campaign by the furor over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who wears dashikis and does not speak softly.
In his first response last week, Obama invoked Robert Kennedy's plea for racial unity after the murder of Martin Luther King, as he no doubt will again today, under the influence of Ted Sorensen, who saw first-hand the violence of the 1960s and emerged as a soft-spoken liberal corporate lawyer.
But Wright and Sorensen reflect more than Obama's mixed racial heritage and the generational gap between their lives and his own. Below the surface of race (and gender) are internal strains of economic class and culture that are not easily resolved.
In the 1960s, Black Power advocates and the Black Panthers were pitted against Dr. King's message of non-violence and reconciliation, just as the Women's Movement was riven by a divide between radical Feminists, college-educated and privileged, and working women who resented "Women's Lib," even as they benefited from the political consciousness it raised. The victims of prejudice are no more monolithic than those who practice and profit from it.
Obama will try to bridge those gaps and more as he is put to the severe test of reaching beyond rhetoric into the hearts of voters with both hopes and fears about the change he represents. At the very least, the results will show how much "just words" matter in American life.
But centuries of oppression, hatred and anger are not so easily wiped out by symbolic candidacies, and Obama is making the speech of his political life today to repair the damage to his campaign by the furor over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who wears dashikis and does not speak softly.
In his first response last week, Obama invoked Robert Kennedy's plea for racial unity after the murder of Martin Luther King, as he no doubt will again today, under the influence of Ted Sorensen, who saw first-hand the violence of the 1960s and emerged as a soft-spoken liberal corporate lawyer.
But Wright and Sorensen reflect more than Obama's mixed racial heritage and the generational gap between their lives and his own. Below the surface of race (and gender) are internal strains of economic class and culture that are not easily resolved.
In the 1960s, Black Power advocates and the Black Panthers were pitted against Dr. King's message of non-violence and reconciliation, just as the Women's Movement was riven by a divide between radical Feminists, college-educated and privileged, and working women who resented "Women's Lib," even as they benefited from the political consciousness it raised. The victims of prejudice are no more monolithic than those who practice and profit from it.
Obama will try to bridge those gaps and more as he is put to the severe test of reaching beyond rhetoric into the hearts of voters with both hopes and fears about the change he represents. At the very least, the results will show how much "just words" matter in American life.
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