Past Time for Obama to Say 'No More' (Victor Davis Hanson)

The Corner at NRO ^ | 29 April 2008 | Victor Davis Hanson

[SE Mom]

Dana Milibank has a sober review of Wright’s morning rantings — and what they portend for the Obama campaign. For weeks now Wright has insulted the United States, whites, Jews, Israel, Italians, et al., but confined his media attacks to talk radio and cable news. But at the Press Club he showed disdain for the liberal corps, and that is a felony of a different sort. So expect outraged reporters to strike back.

All this will be fatal to the Obama candidacy. Had he set an example of moral outrage at his pastor, Wright would be gone and Obama would have recovered by now from any backlash from the African-American community.

But the problem is that by contextualizing Wright, Obama has lost any high ground in commenting about race, and essentially given Wright a blank check to say what he wants without being “disowned”. Moreover, Obama’s de facto original embrace of Wright — in a Faustian exchange for the racial fides that jump-started his Chicago campaigns — initially set a particular tone in the African-American community, to such a degree that a racist who lectures the NAACP about genetic brain differences is now canonized rather than jeered out of the hall.

The white poor and middle class, Hispanics, Asians, etc. look at Wright’s middle-class upbringing, his mansion and perks, and wonder why he is, Ayers-like, so venomous toward the society by which he has done so well, and how he gets away on national television lecturing about genetics and the relationship between race and brain DNA. As far as the electorate's response: as in the case of Michelle Obama, if prosperous upper-middle-class and wealthy African-Americans show such disdain toward the United States, and are applauded when they do, then the less well off of other races and backgrounds will tend to give up on race relations, as if there is no point to addressing grievances and victimization that seem exaggerated and endless rather than empirically based.

If conservatives at first thought the Obama/Wright catastrophe was ironic, given Obama’s liberal sermons, or in a political sense timely in helping the McCain candidacy, I think by now they and most other Americans instead see the mess as tragic for the country, and a radical setback in our collective racial relations. Everyone of good conscience should deplore Wright in the strongest terms, and implore Obama once and for all to disown this extremist.

Otherwise I think some day Barack Obama will have a lot of answering to do in empowering a bigot who has done so much damage in so short a time to his country. Right now Wright and what he has said to the nation are the legacy of his campaign.

04/29 07:49 AM

[SE Mom]

Excellent piece. Here's the link for the Dana Millbank article Hanson references:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/roughsketch/2008/04/obamas_pastor_reignites_race_c.html

[WayneS]

Nice piece. Short and to the point.

[SE Mom]

If conservatives at first thought the Obama/Wright catastrophe was ironic, given Obama’s liberal sermons, or in a political sense timely in helping the McCain candidacy, I think by now they and most other Americans instead see the mess as tragic for the country, and a radical setback in our collective racial relations. Everyone of good conscience should deplore Wright in the strongest terms, and implore Obama once and for all to disown this extremist.

VDH-

[popdonnelly]

“initially set a particular tone in the African-American community”

Good article, but I have to disagree with this. That tone existed in the African-American community for a long time. Which explains Reverend Wright’s success.

[SE Mom]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/roughsketch/2008/04/obamas_pastor_reignites_race_c.html

this is the link for Milbank

[stockstrader]

In his "I HAVE AN EXCUSE" speech on race--Obama could have taken the 'high road'--and disowned Wright, and he could have stated the 'black racism is just as bad as white racism'!!

Instead, he took 'low road'--and refused to disown Wright--and then went on a pathetic explanation of why black churches are like that, and why white Americans need to understand that and 'deal with it'.

If he had taken the 'high road'--Obama had a once in a lifetime chance to ask that black preachers everywhere STOP spreading ugly, divisive, racial hate and venom. Instead, he took the 'low road'--lecturing us on why things are the way they are.

Obama needs to make another speech explaining why he was complicit in helping to POISON the minds of the current generation of black youth.

[Always Right]

I thought Obama’s “better than ‘I had a dream’” speech put all this Pastor Wright stuff behind him.

[tomkat]

As far as the electorate's response ... then the less well off of other races and backgrounds will tend to give up on race relations, as if there is no point to addressing grievances and victimization that seem exaggerated and endless rather than empirically based.

Setting aside Hussein's core marxism for the moment, Hanson nails the very crux of what's happening right now.

King's ghost must be rattling its chains at what's being done to whatever progress his message helped bring about.

/gut feeling

[Jeff Head]

Perhaps that is what these last few days has been all about...letting Wright go unfettered and unhinged in order to give Obama the opportunity for a clean and definitive, morally outraged break...just before Inidana. Maybe we will see that break, what should have occurred years ago, now.

If it is, then the overall question still begs to be answered. Why did it take so long> Why did it have to go this far?

The answer is clear. Obama went to this church, fed at this trough, drank deeply at this well because it is what he believes. Now he has to seperate himself purely for political expediency...but it does not change the man and still points terribly towards his judgement and character.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - BRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

[Travis McGee]

How can Obama disown his surrogate father, mentor and spiritual leader of twenty years, without coming off as an airhead twit or a hypocrite?

Twenty years is not undone by another speech.

[tips up]

What a situation. Obama is doomed with this Rev Wright mess. And the nomination is his mathematically, unless the superdelegates go against the will of the people. And if that happens, Wright/Jackson/Sharpton will have a field day. The perfect storm is heading the Democrats way...

[stockstrader]

Exactly. Not only is Obama proving to NOT be a uniter--he is proving to be exactly the opposite--a polarizing racial divider (in addition to his class envy/class warfare divisiveness).

If you want to further divide this country along racial, social and economic lines (while demoralizing our military)--an arrogant, anti-American, Marxist elitist,,,,who is also a cocky, arrogant, enabler of black racism--Senator B. (whose middle name must NEVER be spoken) Obama,

and his anti-American racist pastor, mentor, close friend and 'spiritual advisor',

and his anti-American, unapologetic, bomb-throwing, terrorist friend,

and his anti-American, bitter, angry wife,,,

are THE RIGHT PEOPLE AT THE RIGHT TIME!!

[mdmathis6]

Well the bloom is off the rose....it is shocking for many liberal whites to realize just how much animus blacks have toward them and this country. Looks like we’ll have to have another civil rights movement...to help save guilt ridden liberal whites from depression as they face the new reality...that is of the black Americans that have been discovered wearing the dreaded white robes and hoods!

[Obadiah]

What really grieves me is the fact that Jeremiah Wright stood in a pulpit disguised as a vicar of Christ and preached hate and divisiveness. That this “church” has a large and approving following is deeply disturbing. That so many Blacks genuinely and completely fail to see the issue is deeply, deeply troubling.

[snowsislander]

Senator Obama needs to leave the race.

Not only has he heeded this disgraceful Mr. Wright for 20 years and called him a spiritual guide, but Mr. Obama has also contributed significant financial support to Mr. Wright's church.

Senator Obama is not the type of person that we need vying for the presidency of the United States.

[Arkansas Toothpick]

If the black community, as a whole, does not unify around a positive, pro-America theme and begin to eschew racial conspiracy and other nonsense policy, they will never have an African American president.

[ClearCase_guy]

I’d say the notion that “blacks can’t be racist” is now totally dead.

[Grampa Dave]

"Dana Milibank has a sober review of Wright’s morning rantings — and what they portend for the Obama campaign. For weeks now Wright has insulted the United States, whites, Jews, Israel, Italians, et al., but confined his media attacks to talk radio and cable news. But at the Press Club he showed disdain for the liberal corps, and that is a felony of a different sort. So expect outraged reporters to strike back."

"All this will be fatal to the Obama candidacy. Had he set an example of moral outrage at his pastor, Wright would be gone and Obama would have recovered by now from any backlash from the African-American community."

"With each new hate rant by Wright and the silence of Obama on the topic of Reverend Wright, Barack Obama seems to confirm his own moral obliviousness. Worse yet, he seems to have disdain for those who are troubled by his own unwillingness, to break with Wright.

On his new campaign plane, Obama said he has spoken with Wright in recent days and disputed any suggestion that he or his campaign have asked him to stay out of the limelight.

"I have talked to him," he said. "I haven't asked him to do anything."

Walter Williams: "For the nation and for black people, the first black president should be the caliber of a Jackie Robinson and Barack Obama is not. Barack Obama has charisma and charm but in terms of character, values and understanding, he is no Jackie Robinson. By now, many Americans have heard the racist and anti-American tirades of Obama's minister and spiritual counselor. There's no way that Obama could have been a 20-year member of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church and not been aware of his statements."

Thomas Sowell: "It is painful to watch defenders of Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious. Some are saying that Senator Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—and a bunch of mean-spirited people are trying to make something out of it."

Hussein Obama’s racist pseudo minister has turned the Dems' run for President into party's train wreck!

Devastatingly, Shelby Steele writes: “Obama has fellow-traveled with a hate-filled, anti-American black nationalism all his adult life, failing to stand and challenge an ideology that would have no place for his own (white) mother."

Just What Did Obama Know About Wright's Past Sermons? (Plenty)

“Barack Obama either agreed with what was preached from the Trinity pulpit, or he tuned it out and stayed around pretending to for political reasons. To say he stayed for 20 years but doesn't agree with Wright's preaching is incredible denial. It'd be like a man buying White Sox season tickets for 20 years, attending the games, and saying he's not a fan.”

Obama’s supporters want us to ignore this story… just push it under the rug. While they’ll align Republicans with any obscure pastor who does or says something controversial, they’re trying to convince us that Obama’s 20-year long close relationship with Wright, including his effective endorsement of him, his church and rhetoric with a $22,500 donation in 2006 is irrelevant.

“When Obama decided against wearing an American flag pin, we may all have been a bit too quick to accept his rationale, too quick to find that issue unimportant. Now, that American flag pin has gotten a lot bigger for a lot of us, especially in light of what may have been and may still be Obama’s deeper, and, perhaps, secret, less than patriotic beliefs about America.”

“Wright says that blacks can’t be expected to sing God Bless America because of racism. Obama doesn’t salute the flag during the National Anthem. That sure strikes me as an amazing coincidence since Obama swears he never heard Wright say anything against America.”

Here is the link to the Star Spangled Banner video with obama standing there without his hand over his heart...

Notice her ear ring!

The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Illinois senator donning a Muslim elder's headdress and robes during a 2006 trip to Wajir in northeastern Kenya. Ahmed Sheikh Bahalow, a retired teacher and elder from ethnically (read Muslim) Somali Wajir, said his community was offended by the insinuation Obama had done anything wrong on his visit. "The Somali community and in particular those living in Kenya have never been that interested in America politics," Bahalow told Reuters in the central town of Isiolo. "But we are following it keenly now because we have been provoked." Wajir residents planned to demonstrate in the town after Friday prayers to show their support for Obama, he said. Those aren't Episcopalians praying on Friday.

"Hussein Obama’s big mouth, small brain, condescending, America-hating, grandkid-baby-terminating, born-alive-infant-abandoning, America-hating-wife, kooky-moonbat-America-hating-pastor, racially-divisive, race-baiting, crotch-saluting, America-flag-disrespecting ... chickens ... coming home to roost ...!"

[PogySailor]

If conservatives at first thought the Obama/Wright catastrophe was ironic, given Obama’s liberal sermons, or in a political sense timely in helping the McCain candidacy, I think by now they and most other Americans instead see the mess as tragic for the country, and a radical setback in our collective racial relations. Everyone of good conscience should deplore Wright in the strongest terms, and implore Obama once and for all to disown this extremist.

Wright is the next Sharpton. Making $$$ by stirring up racial division and suspicion. They have no desire to bring the country together. They can't make money that way.