Obama and the Question of Rev. Jeremiah Wright
I had to say I was impressed with the response given by Senator Obama in response to the Rev. Wright controversy in his speech last evening. Eugene Robinson from Washington Post is right on point when he analyzed the situation:
" Barack Obama was supposed to be on his heels, forced into a backpedaling, defensive crouch after racially charged remarks by his former pastor, delivered from the pulpit years ago, suddenly became the hottest story of the presidential campaign. But instead of running away, Obama issued a challenge to those who would exploit the issue of race: Bring it on"
The speech helped to detail Obama's position on the state of race relations from both sides in the United States (from a rather unexpected angle):
"Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race," Obama said in the speech. "Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one handed them anything, they built it from scratch. . . . So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college . . . when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time."
Robinson continues:
"Obama called on African Americans to embrace "the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past," and to take "full responsibility for our own lives." And he's absolutely right.
__________
"Vice President Dick Cheney. You know where he is right now? He's in Baghdad. He visited there. While he was in Iraq, he said it's a 'successful endeavor.' At least I think that's what he said. It was hard to hear over the explosions." - David Letterman 3/18/08
" Barack Obama was supposed to be on his heels, forced into a backpedaling, defensive crouch after racially charged remarks by his former pastor, delivered from the pulpit years ago, suddenly became the hottest story of the presidential campaign. But instead of running away, Obama issued a challenge to those who would exploit the issue of race: Bring it on"
The speech helped to detail Obama's position on the state of race relations from both sides in the United States (from a rather unexpected angle):
"Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race," Obama said in the speech. "Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one handed them anything, they built it from scratch. . . . So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college . . . when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time."
Robinson continues:
"Obama called on African Americans to embrace "the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past," and to take "full responsibility for our own lives." And he's absolutely right.
This amounts to a new set of talking points for a discussion about race: Don't be paralyzed by history but acknowledge its effects. Recognize that whites have legitimate grievances that are not racist. Don't cling to victimhood as an all-purpose excuse. Accept personal responsibility."
Instead of lapsing into the mistake made by John Kerry in the 2004 election (dismissing rumors as irrelevent, allowing them to gain political traction), he took on the issue honestly and directly. He laid out his case.... and it was as well reasoned and delivered as we have come to expect. It was no surprise that when checking the news this morning, the entire affair was rapidly fading from the public consciousness. It is the five year anniversary of the the beginning of the war in Iraq, and the media has seemed to move onto the President's defiant defense of the war and the consequent protests that this date entails. The Obama campaign had certainly moved on, directly challenging the President in Fayetteville, NC by proclaiming to end the war if elected. Mission accomplished.__________
"Vice President Dick Cheney. You know where he is right now? He's in Baghdad. He visited there. While he was in Iraq, he said it's a 'successful endeavor.' At least I think that's what he said. It was hard to hear over the explosions." - David Letterman 3/18/08