So if the savvy Obama campaign knew Wright was a problem a year ago, why did the Illinois senator, a parish member for two decades, wait until last week to disassociate and denounce the minister’s inflammatory statements? The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was an early concern, Obama aide admits
The latest from Senator Obama is that he wasn’t in the pews when Reverend Wright used “white arrogance” and “the United States of White America” on July 22, disputing the NewsMax report that’s been circulating. I didn’t link to that piece or cover it because, after all, we are talking about NewsMax . But one thing that will clear all of this up is if Senator Obama will release his schedule. Seems simple enough.
But the reality is that this is the second time Senator Obama’s judgment has come into question. He’s had a long relationship with Tony Rezko, too. Now his preacher of two decades is damaging Senator Obama, whether the Clinton campaign wants to talk about it or not. After all, Reverend Wright is no Geraldine Ferraro, even though people want to equate the two.
Maybe Democratic voters, as well as Republican and independents that turn Democratic for a day, don’t care what Wright and Rezko will bring in the general election, but frankly, the Democratic party elders should. That’s why they exist, though let me say again that the caucus system is undemocratic, and if the DNC had a better plan for nominating a candidate we wouldn’t be in this mess. But they don’t, so we are. But the sad fact is that whether the DC Democrats, Obama’s supporters and the Obama blogs want to admit it or not, Wright has damaged the Obama brand terribly.
Got judgment?
Maybe the voters will decide the nominee. But if things stay even, the superdelegates may have to do it. If so, they will have to decide whether Senator Obama can withstand the Republican onslaught already rolling out on all things Reverend Wright. On Clinton’s side, she has her negatives as well, but also the reality that Obama’s supporters may not support her. As I said recently, if Obama is the nominee, taking myself out of this analysis, there is no evidence Clinton supporters will support Obama either, a fact that’s hardened recently. At a time when this was supposed to be a Democratic year, challenges to manifesting our presidential dreams are definitely afoot.
The above video adds another chapter to the How Much Did Senator Obama Know About Reverend Wright’s Views? book, now being compiled across the political spectrum. When I saw it, I further verified its authenticity through this video via CBS2 Chicago. The warm greeting and exchange from Senator Obama towards his minister took place last June 2007.
Speaker Pelosi, whom I respect, has the superdelegate situation all wrong.
The nightmare unfolding on Rev. Wright and Senator Obama is the reason superdelegates
were created. Because anyone thinking Wright won’t follow Obama’s candidacy
into the general election is willing to gamble the presidency on it. How short
a memory to DC Democrats have when it comes to Republican attacks? You know
Obama’s positive numbers? Well, like I’ve been saying for months, they have
nowhere to go but down and once the full American electorate gets a gander of
Obama’s mentor of some two decades, down they will surely go.
Senator Obama’s critical mistake is believing Rev. Wright wouldn’t cause a
firestorm. Did he think by not inviting him to do the invocation at his announcement he could hide Rev. Wright’s philosophical foundation, which is at the core of his beliefs? As Mr. Axelrod admits, they always knew it would be a problem. Think Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Both Kerry and
Obama knew their nightmare was awaiting them, but neither did anything to get
in front of the onslaught.
Obama is now trying to imply that because Wright has “preached his last
sermon” this ends the controversy. His surrogates are saying it over and over again. “Preached his last sermon” is apropos, because Obama wants
this subject to die, but it won’t. Liberals trying to offer Obama cover do so
under the guise of short-sidedness or rank ignorance. Come to think about it the appropriate word is hypocrisy, because Rev. Wright is exactly the thing we rail at Republicans about when it comes to their religious gurus.
From Obama’s “hoodwink” remarks to his campaign’s attacks on Ms. Ferraro, helped along by big bankrupt Obama blogs who offered up darkened photos as proof of “racism” that instead only outed Obama’s supporters as credulous, the Obama campaign has been walking a tightrope on race, playing both sides against the middle, while attacking any Democrat daring to address what’s being done by his campaign. That tightrope just snapped, hitting the candidate in the face. You cannot call someone an “uncle,” which is a member of your family, when an association with a preacher and mentor is one of choice, dedication, following and friendship. To then say you didn’t know what your mentor was saying or the basic tenet of his philosophy, including on race, is to play the American people for fools. Woe unto any politician who plays the voters for suckers. As the Axelrod quote at the top of this post reveals, they knew the reckoning was coming on Wright, but they thought the media, with a lot of help, would hide it.
To some of us plain old blue collar Dems, what Obama is saying in the face of video evidence smells to high heaven. When we see Reverend Wright’s hate we blanch. It’s unacceptable. You know, like when we see Reverends Hagee, Robertson or Dobson say vitriolic things against gays or women, which we never let pass. Heaven forbid we expect consistency among our own. So beware, because when we hear Obama talk about unity, while trying to divide us by calling anyone who questions him “racist,” or when some suggest Reverend Wright’s appalling sermonizing isn’t dangerous to Democratic prospects in November, we suddenly collide in a fantasy vs. political reality wake up call, with the Democratic talking points on cable ticking some of us off. Does credibility not matter anymore?
So here we sit with the primary race in deadlock. The superdelegates may have to decide it. They’ll have to judge whether Wright’s greatest hatred hits are a deal breaker, or simply a preacher talking about reality and race in America to his African American flock, minus the healing and love. Or if Hillary Clinton can win over Obama’s supporters and move on from the battles of the primary season in lieu of Wright’s reverse racism, ignoring that Hillary fans won’t walk a mile for Obama anymore. A John McCain presidency lies in the balance.
This post brought to you by the blue collar reality wing of the Democratic party, which in no way resembles the “Goddamn America” in “the US KKK of A” contingent.
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