Politicizing Jeremiah Wright’s Tour
Blogs are all abuzz with Rev. Jeremiah Wright today. I looked around to see what some of the reactions are and what those reactions may be based upon. This could change rapidly, but by far the majority of those blogging about Wright were conservatives and avid Hillary Clinton supporters. Neocons, for the most part, furthered the race debate by focusing on "black brains vs. white brains" and Hillary Clinton zealots were gleefully preparing for a requiem - justified or not.
I did not read a single blog that commented on, much less explored, whether Wright’s remarks were theologically sound (or not), which, like it or not, is the foundation for the controversy. But that’s what is so incredibly hypocritical about Wright’s critics and the Hillary zealots seeking to destroy Obama at any price.
They started in March by demanding Obama submit to a religious test, which was unconstitutional to begin with, and once they had enough political rhetoric for the controversy to be self-sustaining, they no longer needed and conveniently dismissed the basis of the initial dust-up. Now it’s all about how much damage has been or will be created, or dissembling on a tangential, neurological debate that is so far removed from the center of the original controversy it is pathetic.
It’s just more evidence of clinging to anything possible, justified or not, to demonize or minimize Obama directly or indirectly.
I’m not going to dig into the theological aspect of this debate, at least for today, because I think Wright did an excellent job presenting it himself on Bill Moyer’s Journal Friday. The video of the entire show is at the end of this post. If you did not watch the show last week, I urge you to watch the two videos.
Countless neocons and incredibly avid Hillary supporters cite Jake Tapper’s opinionated and biased reporting as if he had just authored one of the Synoptic Gospels or come down from The Mount with the Tablets. Tapper writes:
He clearly was not doing Obama any favors, not only by reappearing before a ravenous media thus distracting from Obama’s attempt to relate better to white working class voters in Indiana and North Carolina, but by implying Obama’s condemnation of some of his sermons was not sincere.
Citing the above passage and other excerpts from His Holiness Tapper, Jeralyn at TalkLeft, and a defense attorney to boot, concludes:
At this point, I’d say the question is not whether, but how much, Wright is hurting Obama’s campaign.
It is so ordered.
Christopher Beam at Slate takes a more analytical approach and reflects on how Wright’s tour de tee-vee might have even helped.
The YouTube ratio. Right now, Wright is defined as that guy you saw in that YouTube clip or looped on MSNBC. Naturally, it’s always his most heated remarks that get repeated. The more people see Wright in other contexts—on Bill Moyers, at the NAACP, at a conference of ministers—the less they’ll associate him with those initial images. It doesn’t hurt that when he tries, Wright can be charm itself.
The comeback kid. Wright may not be a politician, but he has a politician’s quickness—a quality that makes him remarkably entertaining to watch. When he was asked at today’s event how he feels about being an American, he diffused notions that he’s unpatriotic: “I served six years in the military,” he said. “How many years did Cheney serve?” When the moderator asked him to respond to Chris Rock’s joke that Wright is a “75-year-old black man who doesn’t like white people—is there any other kind of 75-year-old black man?” Wright had the perfect retort: “That’s just like the media. I’m not 75.” (He’s 66.)
Better now than in October. The furor over Wright so far is nothing compared with what Republicans will drum up in the fall. John McCain announced yesterday that despite hinting that he’d leave the Wright issue alone—he asked the North Carolina GOP not to air an ad denouncing Obama and Wright—he now thinks Wright is fair game. So much for the civility race. Given that, it’s better for Wright to fight back and soften his image now than to allow his current image to calcify over the next six months. If he can go from Obama’s crazy minister to Obama’s controversial but thoughtful and witty minister, that will be a huge step in pre-empting the GOP onslaught.
That’s an optimistic view point, but unfortunately one that can only be determined at a later time. However, I believe Steve Benen at Carpetbagger is on the right track, at least logically.
Ultimately, though, I’m still not entirely sure why Wright is the dominant story of the presidential campaign. No serious person believes that Obama agrees with Wright’s most inflammatory remarks. Over a month ago, even John McCain was saying the right things — when Sean Hannity noted the questions about Obama’s former pastor, he asked, “Would you go to a church like that?” McCain responded, “Obviously, that would not be my choice. But I do know Sen. Obama. He does not share those views.”
Unfortunately, many people do not think like Steve does. Instead, they would rather determine guilt by association, even if it isn’t justified, or capitalize on and propagate the musings of a biased and excited media in order to promote their personal agenda.
The two videos below are the entire Bill Moyers’ Journal show with Jeremiah Wright.
The first video is blank for the first 20 seconds (show’s intro). Audio plays, but no images are displayed during that brief period.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers’ Journal - Part I
Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers’ Journal - Part II
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