Must-reads regarding Obama and Jeremiah Wright
- Posted by Beth on March 14th, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Barack Obama, Candidates, General, Moonbats, Politics Jeremiah Wright · race · religion
Two of my all-time favorite writers, both of whom happen to be black; one also having Kenyan roots in common with Obama.
Juliette Ochieng (Baldilocks):
Why did it take so long for the MSM and other observers to give this very important issue the scrutiny it deserves? There are two reasons.
1. The race-baiting of the Clintons coupled with the accusations of race baiting by Obama supporters, and,
2. The wild goose chases regarding Obama’s Kenyan Luo heritage, his visit there, his relationship to Raila Odinga, the mind-bogglingly distorted analyses of the origins of the conflict in that country, the ahistorical analyses of how mixed-raced persons have been identified in this country and the Obama-as-Muslim whisper campaign.
Yes! I’d really point to her #2, because the Stupid Campaign (check out her “some sort of Islam-Christianity death struggle” link for a prime example of how incredibly stupid it can be) has done nothing but make Obama’s critics look like a bunch of ignorant yahoos any time Obama’s past is brought up. Furthermore, I’ll admit I’ve held back on writing about Jeremiah Wright myself, because I don’t want to be associated with the Stupid Campaign, and I don’t want to be accused of race-baiting (Juliette’s reason #1). That’s been my mistake, because giving Obama a pass for this gives him tacit approval. I think of it like this–hesitating to comment on gender issues, because you don’t want to be branded a stereotypical angry feminist. Silence connotates approval.
Then, Michael Bowen (Cobb) breaks it down from his perspective as a black man. Really, nobody does this better than he does for us clueless white folks, and the comments at his blog are often as enlightening, even when you disagree with a commenter’s particular viewpoint.
OK. This is for you white dude. I want you to go back you highschool memories and think of your first crush. You can see her face, her blonde hair, her blue eyes, the way she walked, her voice and how a mere glance from her turned your insides to jelly. She never touched you, she never even spoke to you, but you spent so much time thinking about her. You loved her and hated her at the same time. There are still songs that take you back to the moment. One day she actually spoke to you and told you that you were lower than toad poop. You never forgave her, and you never will.
And especially this, in a separate post:
The problem is very simple. Pretty much all black church activism is liberal / black nationalist activism. The black church has bitten off more than it can chew, and every American who doesn’t understand the subtleties of that nexus and where it does and does not break is going to be perplexed and skeptical about how (and if) Obama can wriggle out of it. I say he can’t because Wright married the man, and Michelle Obama’s UCLA speech is the first 1 of this equation. 1 + 1 = 2. Michelle Obama + Jeremiah Wright = Unpatriotic. And don’t be surprised when Wright is labeled racist. There is no escape here, there is only confrontation. So how does one distinguish doing good for blacks from doing good for America when so much of the rhetoric of black self-help is unpatriotic? That’s the question Obama, of all people, somebody very fresh to the scene, is going to have to answer. Or else.
I’ve touched on this already:
Couple this America-loathing hate monger with Obama’s pal, the Weathermen terrorist William Ayers. Suddenly Michelle Obama’s saying this is the “first time” she’s ever been proud of America doesn’t seem so extraordinary. I find it impossible, inconceivable that Barack Obama would have such close ties to people with radically different ideas than he has, especially when he says he doesn’t think his church is controversial.
And I’ve written in many other comments (most recently here) that black theology isn’t what I have a problem with, in and of itself. (I do have a problem with its leftist bent, of course.)
“I would be puzzled that they would object or quibble with the bulk of a document [the Black Value System] that basically espouses profoundly conservative values of self-reliance and self-help.”
Who objects to that? Nobody I’ve seen who’s talking about Wright’s hateful rhetoric takes issue with THAT part of Black Liberation Theology. If they want to believe Jesus was black, I don’t care about that either. Good for them, if it makes them feel closer to Him. That is NOT the problem, and if Obama doesn’t understand people’s criticism, he’s as steeped in that garbage as Jeremiah Wright himself. It’s telling that he doesn’t consider it controversial, doesn’t understand how offensive it is. Just who does he think his voters (and potential voters) are? His big echo chamber? Maybe so, to a point. Not to THAT point, though.
Those values of self-reliance and self-help are no different from what Bill Cosby has said and for which he’s been eviscerated by victimologists. What *is* different, however, is what drives that quest for self-reliance. To someone like Jeremiah Wright or Malcolm X, it’s anger and hatred. To others, it’s confidence and independence from paternalism (i.e., the so-called “welfare-state”). There’s a stark difference. And worse, Jeremiah Wright says what he believes (God damn America!) is in the Bible. If you’ve watched the videos, you’ve seen him say “it’s in the Bible!” No, it isn’t, but Wright is preaching hatred as religion.
Finally, this isn’t from a black perspective, but Tom Maguire has some important further information, including a link to Obama’s wishy-washy defense at the Huffington Post. The Rolling Stone article to which Maguire links is already in my Obama dossier, waiting for an opportune moment, but I guess I forgot about it. (Rats!) Here’s a key quote:
“We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!” The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: “And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SHIT!”
This is as openly radical a background as any significant American political figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King Jr. Wright is not an incidental figure in Obama’s life, or his politics. The senator “affirmed” his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a “sounding board” to “make sure I’m not losing myself in the hype and hoopla.” Both the title of Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright’s sermons. “If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from,” says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, “just look at Jeremiah Wright.”
Yep. “America is a mean place!”
Again, that’s where you need to get Baldilocks’ and Cobb’s perspective, because they understand it. Maybe that’s why I haven’t said much until recently–because I’ve been waiting for those who are a better authority on the world’s Jeremiah Wrights than I am. Either way, the question remains: Is this the kind of man to bring “unity” and heal old racial wounds? I don’t say “no,” I say HELL NO. I say giving a national voice to an agent of hatred and divisiveness like Jeremiah Wright would make things worse, and make no mistake: he would have a voice with his protege in the White House. After all, isn’t that exactly what some people worried about with Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee? Frankly, I wouldn’t be too worried about either of them, because at least the Southern Baptist and Mormon churches aren’t screaming about how evil America is.
There’s more relevant material getting updates over at Hot Air, and also here, with Oprah! I found this from Juliette in the comments there, too:
One of the reasons that I had to shop around for a church was that I kept running into the type that provided, shall we say,information and programs that fell outside of the scope of what I think a church–and a pastor’s–purpose should be (the purpose being to impart the Word and let the Word do the work). I’m very glad that the Spirit led me to do that.
About Oprah: just this past Sunday, one of my fellow parishioners and I got to talking about Oprah “coincidentally.” Neither of us had watched her show for years, but my friend had tuned in on accident and had been shocked at the New Age-y, secular agenda which OW seemed to be promoting. Has anyone else noticed this?
Of course I mentioned her role in the Obama campaign and my friend, a black woman like me, but a life-long Democrat said something like this: “then they both bear watching.”
Something’s going on here.
Oy.
UPDATE: Another must-read, at Protein Wisdom (via Cobb’s comments–I told ya, read the comments there too!). Quick snip:
If we attempt to comprehend how Black Theology differs from traditional Christian Theology in a theological context it is that its focus is on black experience and its ‘gospel’ is in the liberation of the black oppressed. This has evolved today to the point that ‘praxis’ - the act of revolutionary liberation from oppression - has primacy. Traditional Christian Theology certainly offers liberation - focused on a liberation from sin - but it is also universal: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:17) - and “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female” in Christ (Gal. 3:28).
Given that we live today in a post-Christian society it may be instructive to take a view that considers a political rationale as well. It seems perhaps reasonable to conclude that Black Theology is a mapping of identity politics* onto traditional Christian theology. In this way it can be explained as the engulfing of traditional Christian terminology and meaning with the mission of identity politics - and in this case the identity politics of black Americans. Those interested in the meaning of language as it relates to our culture have visited this kind of expedient adoption.
Given that slavery has been abolished, amendments to the constitution have been made, the Civil Rights movement has been almost universally embraced, legislative acts have been promulgated, broad entitlements have been granted, affirmative action has existed, and we have conducted a long term experiment with enhancing the experience of a large number of groups with political identity, it seems almost strange that Black Theology rhetoric is what it is.
Perhaps it is that the point of view is so entrenched in the focus on oppression as an experience of primacy that any party to it can never move - the act of liberation is perpetually frozen in the experience of self-imposed oppression.
To which Cobb simply says, “Bingo.”
UPDATE 2: Obama claims he’s never heard Wright say such inflammatory things. It is to laugh.
Mr. Wright said that in the phone conversation in which Mr. Obama disinvited him from a role in the announcement, Mr. Obama cited an article in Rolling Stone, “The Radical Roots of Barack Obama.”
According to the pastor, Mr. Obama then told him, “You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public.”
Also, yes he was there in the pews when Wright was ranting about Evil Amerikkka™. It’s in his book.
UPDATE 3: Richard Miniter wisely cools some of the lasered heat on Jeremiah Wright, and put the blame where it belongs. Pay attention:
Rev. Wright is a black Christian minister who sees Jesus a black man persecuted by white Roman society. It sounds like a clever way to get his flock to come to church, not an anti-white hatefest. It seems like a tool to get his followers to identify with Jesus. You are suffering and the Savior has suffered just like you, but he followed the word of God and he triumphed and you can too. I have heard similar sermons in white and black evangelical churches.
[...]
That root is not racism against white people, although it may sound like it is.The root of it is a perpetual grudge against America. Where does this grudge come from? From the 1960s Left, who believed it and taught it. The hippies may have seemed happy, but they were also paranoid and given to cartoonish conspiracy theories. And the counter-culture survives in an intact and virulent form in only one place: the black inner-city.
The real scandal is the cynics who promoted these terrible views in the black community and sowed fears which continue to separate us.
So don’t blame Rev. Wright. He is simply the victim of ideological disease, doing the best that he can to help others in his somewhat incapacitated state.
I’ll have more on this later; my point very quickly is that people should not see this episode as an indictment of black America or black churches. It’s a very specific segment of black America that occupies the same ideological space as whites, Hispanics, and anyone else on the Angry Left.
And it is that segment from which Barack Obama emerged, no matter how much he lamely tries to disguise it with “just words.”
[Previous posts on this issue here.]
Marie says:
When I heard the clips on TV from Wright sermons, I was shocked at the anti-American rhetoric that this Pastor was spewing. Just heard Obama declare on Fox news that he was unaware of the comments that his Pastor has made. Obama belonged to this church for over 20 years, it is impossible that he could not be aware of what his Pastor stands for. I think this is the end for Obama..
You have a great blog!!
baldilocks says:
Though I disagree strongly with some of it, this is a great post–and not just because you quoted me extensively. :-) But it’s past midnight even here on the Left Coast. Let’s see if I can wind down.
Later, B.
Beth says:
What part did I get wrong? The Miniter bit?
Lord Bitememan says:
Guess Obama would have been better off being a Muslim after all. ;)
baldilocks says:
Morning!
Yeah, I have a lot of issues with Miniter’s peace on the “black” church.
I’ve been to plenty of churches whose congregations are/were predominately black and which preached your standard Gospel. Oh they may dance and “fall out” more than the church I attend now (mostly white parishioners), but the message was the same.
In my opinion, this African Liberation “church” business has a Christ coating, but no relation to the sole purpose of JC’s sacrifice and resurrection: keeping us out of the Hell to which we all deserve to go.
Miniter treats this fundamental perversion of Christ’s purpose as some foible that we black folks–specifically Wright, the Obamas and those like them–can’t help; as if we’re too stupid or to disabled by racism to understand what Christ’s purpose is. And that we’ve been hoodwinked be sixties radicals. IOW, we’ve been fooled by white people and can’t make adult decisions because of it. I reject that argument.
If anyone has been fooled it’s the human race…
Beth says:
I’ve thought about what he wrote so more, and yeah, he does make it sound like The Black Church™ is all like that. Of course, it’s not, and I know that without ever having set foot in a predominantly black church (I don’t go to any church, for that matter, but that’s another issue I’ve got to fix). ;)
What I fear from this episode is that many will start thinking that “all black churches” are like that, because most people only know what they’ve seen on teevee. Or worse, that Wright’s thinking is representative of black folks in general. There’s a vast swath of America that has little actual contact with black people (hello, Iowa!), and if the media starts dragging out a whole bunch of black talking heads/pastors defending Obama’s attendance at a leftist Liberation church, it’ll give those people the wrong impression.
Beth says:
You know what I REALLY want to know?
Where the hell is Al Sharpton?
He’s on O’Reilly all the time, whenever race is an issue. I’d think he’d be one of the first people on the teevee with something to say. Where is he? Is he hiding, or has he been asked by the Obama campaign to stay out of it?
Candy says:
Came to leave you this to reflect on, give it a full reading of course. Let me know where your antennas go up.
LINK (fixed)
BTW…
I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church… in the South. At most my pastor might compare Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt to our journey (we’ve heard that i’m sure), pick up your cross like he did and praise God in whatever work you do… janitor, maid, nurse, lawyer, etc.. None of my pastors went there. Black church is family, great choirs, food, someone will not hesitate to set you on the straight and narrow when you’re slacking and preaching the gospel. Liberation Theology is Marxism. If you remember (on youtube) Hannity on with Wright and another bearded young man in part one, he repeatedly harped on Libtheo, Nicaraqua roots of it. Hmmm… wth does that have to do with the black experience here and now? He had a good life, military service, two universities… was he a slave?
At first I said there’s nothing Obama can say… if you’re there twenty years, bring your nine and six year old to hear it, the pastor’s sermons have been on tape for years, you’ve written about it in your books, admitted Wright could be a liability (and he told Barack, also in his book), what can you say… period?
For those that read this and know…
What African American that had a home church for twenty years can you get to leave their church, denounce their pastor, or say they didn’t hear what the pastor said?
If someone’s searching for a home church, stop at one and doesn’t like what they hear… they move on, no one has to tell them (because you’d get cursed out), and it wouldn’t happen… after twenty years.
The fact he was part of the campaign doesn’t help either.
Bottom Line: Either he attends or not. It’s a cover he uses for politics or what he considers church… period. Not my idea of the gospel but I don’t see how you could be there so long then diss it.
Project: Go to a black person today, talk about their pastor and say they should denounce him, separate themselves or leave… then come back and tell me what happens.
At the end of the day, it’s still a diversion.
Beth says:
Candy, this is interesting from that article:
What you said here:
Absolutely right! I think his conscious choice of that church (despite warnings from Wright himself!) says almost everything.
“Almost,” because the other thing this all says about him is that he’s dissing him NOW because he wants cover for politics. After 20 years? His children’s church? NOW he disavows Wright? I can’t decide which is worse. Either way, he’s wrong.
This all could have been avoided, of course, if twenty years ago he’d have taken Wright’s advice, if politics was his goal. More to the point, if Christianity and healing were his goals, he could have moved on to a different church that preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, rather than the gospel of Marx (and to a certain extent, Farrakhan). But he didn’t make those alternative choices. He chose Wright, and he cannot back out of it, he can’t erase history.
Of course, it’s his and anyone else’s right to follow Liberation theology. I would never deny anyone that right, nor would I ever think Liberation theology should “go away” or whatever.
What I DO think, though, is that I would never, ever vote for someone who believes such things. I wouldn’t vote for him for the city council, much less the Presidency. And just as he has the right to believe what he believes, people have the right to disagree and reject him as a candidate. It IS part of who he is and what he believes, even more than his belief in “universal health care” or opposition to the war in Iraq or whatever (both issues of his that I oppose, anyway).
baldilocks says:
Exactly.
Obama has stirred up so much discord the one wonders if he wasn’t sent. And I don’t mean by the mullahs.
baldilocks says:
Oh yeah, thanks again, Beth, for the shout out at LGF. I ought to make you my publicist. :-)
Beth says:
Hey, I just call it like I see it. ;)
Nancy says:
Here are two more must reads:
Rev. Wright’s sermon,Audacity of Hope, which inspired Senator Obama.
LINK (fixed)
An article by the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0716/p01s01-uspo.html
Rather than judge Rev. Wright on a few sound bites or label Obama unfairly, I also suggest you read Senator Obama’s books.
Beth says:
Why do you assume I haven’t read Obama’s books?
So many assumptions from so many people (ahem…Obama supporters), never in good faith.
Please don’t assume that I don’t know what TUCC is about. I do, and I don’t see it as all bad. I do take issue with Wright/TUCC in the same sense that I take issue with the UCC in general and some other mainline Protestant religions, in that they’re too “liberal” for my taste (I don’t go to church or claim a denomination, but I am essentially a Catholic in spirit, if not in name). But TUCC isn’t even like mainstream mainline Protestant churches; it’s liberation theology, which is much further Left. I don’t see that as theology, but ideology. Of course, it’s Obama’s right, as well as Wright’s, to have that faith, and I’d never say otherwise. I’m not blind, though, and I do know that Rev. Wright didn’t just spout a few “sound bites” from a vacuum–that all comes from the basics of liberation theology, which is way out of the mainstream, Marxist to its core. I cannot imagine how a liberation theologist could be anything but anti-American, because the theology basically rejects the basics of what American society is–capitalist, seeking the “American dream,” individualistic, etc. That’s contrary to the teachings of liberation theology, to my best understanding.
Now, I don’t think anyone believes that all Wright talks about in his sermons is “God damn America.” But there it is–he does bear an animus to American society. There’s a whole lot of anger and bitterness there, from what I can see. I wonder, is there any talk of reconciliation? Is there ANY willingness to engage in dialogue? So far, since this has erupted, I’ve been called a white supremacist (!) by people who agree with Reverend Wright. I wonder, would Wright feel the same? Because I’m white, or because I’m a conservative? I’ve seen black critics of Obama being told they’re enablers of “knuckle dragging supremacists,” as well. How does anyone EVER expect to find healing or solutions with that kind of shit? I can’t even have an opinion of my own because I’m a conservative (or maybe because I’m white–I don’t even know), and I can’t even try to have an honest discussion with people whose opinions I want to understand without them *ass*uming the absolute worst. With some people, I’m not even allowed to speak on the issue of race, but yet if I don’t, it’s said that I don’t care. Well, hell, I’m sick of that Stalinist bullshit. I’m not going to change my politics just so I won’t be called a racist by nasty, angry people who don’t even know me or want to know me, and I can’t change my skin color. It appears to me that there isn’t going to be real healing as long as there are people like Rev. Wright and his ideological allies getting a pass, because they expect everyone to either subscribe to left-wing ideology, change skin color, or disappear. None of those things are going to happen. Never. And if they can’t be criticized for that ideology with out the critic being called a white supremacist or enabler, then WTF? It’s a stalemate.
So I’m sorry, but if Obama is so deeply tied to that church, that ideology, how am I supposed to be so sure that he doesn’t think I’m some knuckle-dragging, ignorant white supremacist? His pastor does. Some/many/all? of his defenders do. After all, I’m white, conservative, and I live in Alabama. And hey, I was in the military, as well. I must be that racist piece of shit, right? And because I want to actually engage on the issues, it’s because I’m defending my “white supremacy,” too, right? Just ask around–the only reason why people are Republicans is because they’re racists! That’s just bullshit, and it’s another why I despise the political Left. If you don’t fall in lockstep with them, it’s because you’re evil. I had hoped that this episode would get people talking honestly about race in America–I still hope it does. I want to be part of the solution. But it’s really hard to be part of the solution when you aren’t even allowed to discuss it, and when everything you say is viewed as coming from a “white supremacist” point of view. It’s as though some want to keep me and those like me pigeonholed so they can have someone to hate. Well, that’s not going to move anything in a positive direction, no matter how much I wish for it to happen; not when some simply don’t want to move forward.
So the question is Obama. He’s supposed to be the candidate of hope and change and “yes we can.” Really? I don’t think so. What this is really about is the fact that Obama doesn’t really seem to come from a place that “unity” is valued at all, and that maybe he’s not about being for all Americans–just those with whom he agrees. Now, I don’t think Obama thinks “God damn America,” but you know what? I think Jeremiah White sucks for uttering those words. I think anyone who says “God damn America” sucks, no matter who they are, and to say it from a pulpit? Oh. My. God. To me, that’s almost blasphemy. I’m not the only one who thinks that, either. You know, where I live (in the Bible Belt), saying “God damn” anything is blasphemous, worse than saying “fuck you.” And to say “God damn America” from the pulpit? I don’t think I need to spell out just how offensive that is to probably most Americans, and not just Southern Baptists.
Again, I DO NOT think Obama thinks that himself. But does Barack Obama, like his wife (and obviously Wright) think America is essentially a “mean place?” Does he think American white people invented HIV to kill off black people? (I doubt it.) Does he think deep down that the “chickens came home to roost” on 9/11 because of our support for “Zionists?” (It’s always about the Jooos on the far left.) Does he? I mean, his very liberal political record is consistent with his pastor’s “liberal” politics, so why are these things something that one shouldn’t want to know?
He’s not the empty vessel into which everyone can pour their utopian fantasies, either, any more than Hillary Clinton is, and it’s been absurd how people have done so all along. What this episode has done, essentially, is fill in some of those details that people didn’t know (or didn’t want to know). And I’ve said it time and time again–I don’t want a left-wing President, regardless of whatever freaking religion to which he or she subscribes. But can you imagine if another candidate had something like this come up? Hell, people are going bonkers because some kooky right-wing pastors (Hagee, Parsley) merely endorsed McCain (as if they’d endorse a Democrat? LOL!), and McCain doesn’t go to their churches, doesn’t give them money, didn’t have his kids baptized by them, etc.
What if McCain or Hillary was a member of Fred Phelps’ “church?” Wouldn’t you think there’s probably something else going on in his head beyond it being merely a choice of a church? Like maybe he hates gays? In other words, wouldn’t you ask “why that church?” I sure would, and I damn sure wouldn’t vote or anyone who did go to that “church.” And I’m sorry, but most people are going to see TUCC as almost in the realm of nuttiness as Phelps’ church. Certainly at least as nutty as Pat Robertson and James Dobson, as well–and I wouldn’t support their candidacies either.
Nancy, thank you for your comment, and I’m sorry I gave such a long response. (I’ve just been thinking about this a lot, and I’m trying to write down everything as it comes up, and maybe I just really want to have a discussion about all this.) See that “baldilocks” up there in the comments above yours? She knows probably as much about Obama as anyone on the internets does, and she isn’t a fan of Wright’s either. More importantly, she’s also not on the Obama bandwagon. I say this because it’s a mistake to assume that those who object to Jeremiah Wright and/or Barack Obama do so out of ignorance. There are plenty of ignorant buffoons out there–they’re the ones who were saying Obama is a Muslim and took his oath of office on the Q’uran (LOL!)–but we aren’t all like that.
MC says:
Hey Beth - My favorite Bama fan! Jeff’s been letting me cross post over at the PW Pub where the post that you tracked back to on Friday from here. I really appreciate your thoughtful posts on this matter as well as your engagement over on Cobb’s blog. I’m continuing posting on the Obama/Wright issue - and I’ve come to the point after much study that Mr. Obama is being disingenuous. I’m interested in your thoughts. Hey, who says there can’t be any colluquy between Bama and AU folks (I mean, really, that’s a class conflict more powerful than race, you know? :))…
George says:
Here’s a great must-read on Obama:
http://gopublius.com/