Posted on 03/20/2008 4:00:33 PM PDT by shrinkermd
Much to my surprise Charles Krauthammer came up with the best, short description of Obama's speech regarding Reverend Jerimiah Wright.
Krauthammer pointed out: (1)Obama equated the Wright hate speech with a private worry of his white grandmother or the valid observation by Geraldine Ferraro that without his race he would not be the Democrat presidential candidate he is; (2)Obama never expressed any apology of any kind to anyone; (3)And, Obama seems to have taken the attitude of "..Come to me and I will heal you..."
If anyone can link to this very short Krauthammer effort, I would appreciated it.
His speech was pure sleight of hand. Lots of misdirection. Its inner logic, when you really start parsing it, is just plain sneaky. Like you say, it will be received in two ways by people. You’ll either glance off of it and love it, or you’ll dig into it and probably be PO’d.
Geraldine Ferarro, to her credit, is not taking Obama's crap analogy about her comment VS Wright's twenty year history of racial bomb throwing and few have failed to notice how Obama Badly used his white grandmother for his political advantage. Obama will hold his core supporters but the independents will have second thoughts. Obama has already shown a decline in the polls.
On the other hand, maybe the “throw granny under the bus” aspect is blatant enough that it’ll throw up some flags for folks who otherwise wouldn’t notice.
Had it on the TiVo. My transcript of Krauthammer’s words follows:
I wasn’t offended by the reference to a “typical white person”, but there is a certain irony here. Here he is engaging in the racial stereotyping of his own white Grandma, two days after he dumped on her for engaging in what? Racial stereotyping.
It would be comical if it didn’t point out the incredible self-righteousness of Barack Obama. He appears unaware of what he did.
Look. Here’s a guy who had to give a speech because he’d been in this close relationship for 20 years with a raving racist. So what does he do? He gets up there and says “You know, this is a teaching moment, I’m going to instruct you on race relations in America.” And in his speech, did he apologize once? Did he once admit error? Did he even admit a lapse in judgment? No! He dumped on Ferraro, Grandma, Reverend Wright, black racists, white racial resentment, everybody is at fault except him, and he hovers above all of this in his celestial, uh, status up there and passes judgment and says “Come to me, I will heal our Nation.” It is an amazing performance.
No, I don’t think Krauthammer is right all of the time. He has a penchant for tossing out difficult to determine personality diagnoses instead of using SOB or some other epithet.
Ping to my #25. Thought you might enjoy Krauthammer’s take.
Good stuff from Krauthammer.
thanks. He said it short and to the point.
Krauthammer's right that it was wrong for Obama to equate his grandmother with Rev. Wright:
The moral equivalence is on the one hand you have Jeremiah Wright, and on the other hand you have Geraldine Ferraro ... and grandma, who occasionally would utter a private, racist epithet, as if she had shouted these in a crowded church or a crowded theater as a way to arouse and envenom the audience as Wright did.
Obama is a guy who glories in his capacity for intellectual distinctions. There is a huge distinction between a woman of the generation of a Truman, who also uttered epithets about Jews and blacks in private, and the propagation of race hatred in a congregation on behalf of a pastor.
I don't get that Grandma was saying racist epithets, though. Just that she was scared of Black men and laughed at some inappropriate jokes. I'm also not sure about this:
This kind of extenuation is what you used to hear from Jesse Jackson, except in Obama's case, dressed up in Ivy League language and Harvard Law School nuance.
It sounds like a gratuitous dig to say that Obama's speech was like something you'd hear from Jackson except that it wasn't much like what you'd hear from Jackson, who fit more into the naive bigot category.
“Much to my surprise Charles Krauthammer came up with the best..”
I know how much that pains you to say. ;)
But, they still have a problem. They want the WH so bad they will be willing to kick Hussein down the stairs but that leaves them with Hillary. Her negatives are a liability that will make her ubelectable. Is this a possibility of a third candidate out there somewhere. Mind you, I am not professing a 2000 dem redux by no stretch but, they don't really have the right guns to beat a cannon or two. It should be interesting....
I simply cannot stand the thought of any Clinton near the White House but I think she is the more electable of the two Dems - And that thought keeps me up at night!
Glad I’m not the only one that sees the resemblance.
Or maybe she would lose 60-40.
obama is obsessed with race.
Interesting. Now that I think about this ‘historic’ speech, that liberal experts say is of the greatest of all time - I do not recall MLK or JFK bringing up such petty political events as the Ferraro comment in a groundbreaking speech. They would speak only of lofty goals and accomplishments, not single out supporters of their political opponents.
The left is trying to foist a two-bit political hack on our country, portraying him as some sort of a once in a lifetime historic figure. He’s nothing of the sort.
I would love to invite Charles over for dinner one night. He is a fascinating individual, IMO. For being such a brilliant fellow, he expresses himself so clearly. I’m so disappointed when he isn’t one of the three with Brit on Fox...
Hell, her machine hasn't even started on McCain yet and I'll bet he's got a couple of things that will supply fodder for an eager, ravenous Media.
Nope, I'll take my chances against Obama.
“Will you, Barack Obama, publicly renounce Black Liberation Theology, as practiced by the church you have attended for 17 years?”
Get it right!
It’s a vast conspiracy by “typical” white folks.
Whites FORCED him to attend Reverend Wright’s racist-church.
All those years Obama spent picking cotton on a “typical” white plantation compelled him to accept Reverend Wright’s black liberation theology — don’t you know?
It’s a “black thing” — you wouldn’t understand.
... And, of course, Reverend Wright, — you know, the guy that wears a gold watch on his wrist, — is also a victim of “typical” white folks.
As a “typical” plantation owning white-racist I feel so guilty!
Let us pray.
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