The Reverend Wright's Sabotage
Has the Rev. Jeremiah Wright been trying to sabotage Barack Obama's presidential candidacy? I'm inclined to think so. That's not original thinking on my part: Steve Sailer advanced the idea in a posting way back on January 15 (definitely read the whole thing). Sailer notes that Wright's foundation gave its award to Louis Farrakhan in November 2007, long after Obama began his presidential campaign. Unless Wright is a complete idiot (which he obviously isn't), he had to realize that Farrakhan was political poison. It's not like he couldn't have thought of other people to honor. Sailer's concluding paragraph:
I bet that Wright doesn't want Obama to win—that would disprove his whole world view that whites will never give a black man an even break. He wants Obama to go down in flames to prove he was right, and he wants to be the torch. Just as the conventional wisdom has become that white racism cost Michael Dukakis the Presidency in 1988 over Willie Horton, he wants to go down in history in conjunction with the next myth—that white racism cost Obama the Presidency or Vice-Presidency over Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
It reminds me of an evening at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in July 1988. After each night's session I would hang out, gin and tonic in hand, with other journalists and Dukakis campaign aides in the front of the lobby/atrium at the downtown Hyatt Regency, the original atrium hotel. I'd give the Dukakis people a letter grade for their performance each evening. On the night Jesse Jackson spoke, I gave them a D. They objected: Jackson had endorsed Dukakis; he hadn't said anything really incendiary; his family was attractive, etc. All true, I said, but it was still an evening that was wholly dominated by Jesse Jackson, a negative figure for most American voters. You did as well as you could have. The highest grade you could have gotten was a D.
On the same theory, you could give Obama a D for his handling of the Wright controversy. Not because he didn't handle it as well as he could have but because the best grade he could possibly get was a D.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | race | Jeremiah Wright
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (14) | Print
Reader Comments
Tom Hinkle's comments
"Not likely that Wright will intentionally harm Obama
I doubt that Wright would intentionally sabotage Obama. I'm sure Wright would be thrilled to death if he wins. But if Obama does lose, it will certainly be used to validate Wright's opinion that racist America won't elect a black and Wright ( and a lot of other blacks) will be vociferous with that point. "
>I disagree with the first half of this.
"The sad truth is America WILL elect a black man (or woman), but only if they appear to not be harboring a grudge and reverse-racist attitudes about whites. Obama WAS that man; until his association with Wright became better known. Now it's questionable if Obama can regain the trust of whites who, a few weeks ago, were actually thrilled at the prospect of having a black they could support."
>...but totally agree with this. Well said.
A Girlie Man
If Obama could not "stand up to" his hateful, racist pastor, how can we expect him to behave against international evil men, like Iran's leader. I fear another Jimmiy Carter-Never met a Thug he didn't Hug!
Stop Playing the Race Card
First of all Obama had a great chance of becoming our first African-American President but he blew it with his 20 year love affair with a racist, anti-american spiritual leader! How can he claim to be a great unifer when he sat quietly maybe even approvingly in a church filled with hate, finger pointing and anti-white sentiment. He had a choice and he didn't have the balls to do the right thing. I will have to vote Republican (ugh) because I would rather vote for someone I know loves this country than someone who pledges allegiance to Africa first.
advertisement
