John Fout
Barack Obama faced a difficult task Tuesday in Philadelphia when he gave a speech on the racial divide in America and in his campaign. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who is Obama's pastor and Christian mentor, over the last week had his image splashed on TV screens making inflammatory comments about America and race the last week.
Nobody questions the oratory power and inspiration offered by Obama. He, again, delivered a good speech on race, and the more important message of unifying to end the racial divide in America. The effort proves laudable. But what motivated the speech? Clearly, it was the negative reaction to his pastor's comments being aired on national television and possibly also the strident comments made by a Hillary Clinton surrogate, Geraldine Ferraro. Rev. Wright has been a part of Obama's campaign since the inception, serving on his African American Religious Leadership Committee. His link to Obama, however, reaches much deeper. Obama has long credited his pastor for inspiring him and mentoring him in Christian faith. In fact, a Rev. Wright sermon served as the title of Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic Convention and subsequent book: Audacity of Hope. Yet suddenly Rev. Wright has left the campaign, and Obama has denounced portions of Wright's sermons. Many of these sermons occurred years ago. The changing of gears by Obama raises the question of authenticity and credibility. Obama tried to downplay the role of Rev. Wright, saying "he was like an uncle" who says something strongly objectionable. Was Obama truly unaware of his pastor's thoughts and words in their common house of worship? Obama in his speech recognized when the divisiveness began in the campaign: "We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary." African Americans make up about 45% of the voters in that state's Democratic primary and thus heavily influenced the outcome. The Obama campaign had a choice at that time: Allow the issue of race to work in their favor or call for unity. The campaign chose to politicize race and thus improve its chance to win that primary with three actions. First, Jesse Jackson Jr., a campaign co-chair, attacked Hillary Clinton for "crying" about herself in New Hampshire but not African Americans affected by Hurricane Katrina. Second, the campaign released a memo to the press about the Clinton campaign playing the race card in five instances, including a charge Clinton had downplayed the role of Martin Luther King's efforts in getting the Civil Rights Act passed. Third, Obama reinforced the negative attack in the memo by saying: "Sen. Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill-advised remark about King and Johnson." Tuesday in his speech, Obama had a chance to ratchet down the recent rhetoric on race. He started his speech with a different tone instead:"On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap."The specter of affirmative action has been raised by the media, not by anyone in either campaign as I wrote Monday. Obama then compared the exaggerated race-baiting in the media to the statements of his pastor:
"On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike."Obama eventually acknowledged the deeper severity of his pastor's statements:
"Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."Even if you find an "implication" of racism in comments by people like Geraldine Ferraro, they pale in comparison to Rev. Wright's.
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