Obama's Wright stuff
Political junkies have been awash in Pastor Jeremiah Wright's inflammatory remarks (the Washington Post has a selection of them) for weeks, and Barack Obama responded admirably last Tuesday with a speech on race entitled "A More Perfect Union." Here are three passages from his speech which spoke most clearly to me about Obama's optimistically liberal patriotism:
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. [...] I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. [all emphases mine]
Obama recognizes the debt he owes to our nation, but tempers this with a humble acknowledgment of his place in history and its long arc toward justice. I consider these sentiments to be more important than race in understanding Obama's candidacy, although his denunciation of Wright's words made the remainder of the speech politically necessary.
We liberals can't excuse blame-America-first comments from Wright that we deplore when coming from Robertson, Falwell, and D'Souza. We need to look clearly at those statements, ignore partisanship, and make our assessment on principle instead of politics. We need to be no less diligent in condemning offensive divisiveness from our friends than from our enemies. Having said all that, I recognize that it's much easier for us to criticize the occasional Jeremiah Wright than it is for conservatives to disagree with the multitude of bible-thumpers that provide their political muscle: James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, Roy Moore, Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps, Randall Terry, and Donald Wildmon. Hitchens names a few more names at Slate, providing my Quote of the Day:
If you think Jeremiah Wright is gruesome, wait until you get a load of the next Chicago "Reverend," one James Meeks, another South Side horror show with a special sideline in the baiting of homosexuals. [...] ...his use of the term house nigger to describe those he doesn't like and for his view that it was "the Hollywood Jews" who brought us Brokeback Mountain. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee adorns himself with two further reverends: one named John Hagee, who thinks that the pope is the Antichrist, and another named Rod Parsley, who has declared that the United States has a mission to obliterate Islam. Is it conceivable that such repellent dolts would be allowed into public life if they were not in tax-free clerical garb? How true it is that religion poisons everything.