« Sen. McCain will previal in a McCain-Obama race. | gudman's Blog | What young girls and young woman can learn from Sen. Clinton »
Sen. Obama's clay feet - A great speech but it is quite disingenuous
Dear Sen. Obama:
As someone who was quite impressed with your 04 Dem Con speech and jumped on your band wagon when you announced for Nomination race, I find it difficult to take your words on their face value. Eventhough I tempered my enthusiasm for you recently, I wanted to be open to vote for you if your are the GE candidate. I am not so sure anymore.
As a Social liberal, I take Civil Rights very seriously. I always championed Racial Equality and fair treatment for everyone. When I heard you in '04, I found it quite refreshing to hear an African American make a case for all
the right things. Now, I find it incomprehensible that the same man could sit in a congregation week after week and hear such harsh words. I abhor the notion of guilt by association. My first thought is that it is unfair to blame you for your Preacher's words. But, the more I think about it, the more I got disenchanted. You have a much stronger relationship with Rev. Wright as expressed in your words. Your association is 20 long years. That is too long in my book without being a fellow traveler.
Your speech is quite good at many points. I didn't expect you to disown Rev. Wright. It is a principled thing to do. You couldn't have done it. But, When I read it 2-3 times, I found it politically calculating at many instances. You tried it explain Rev. Wright's Racism/bigotry away. A call for honest discussion of Racism !. I would have been impressed if you had made some attempts to convey the same message to Rev. Wright. By attending the same congregation for 20 long years, you must have tacitly approved of the message of Rev. Wright. His is not the message of love and forgiveness that Nelson Mandela expressed for his oppressors.
You are correct when you said in speech that this country made enormous progress and Rev. Wright is wrong in ignoring it.
You have also cynically referred to Geraldine Ferraro's comments into the same line as Rev. Wright. She is guilty of expressing a sweeping statement of equating all your success to 'race' once in a local newspaper that few have heard of. What you did is what a conventional calculating politician does. Look.. my opponent is devious too game.
You have shown no 'judgment' (that you are fond of claiming to have) on this until you are forced
to do so. It raises doubt about the sincerity of your message of change/hope/unity. I must say that the rhetoric of the speech is good but it is quite disingenuous.
This is not Change we can believe in. Your are more of an ambitious politician who happens to be good at using words. --- GM
As someone who was quite impressed with your 04 Dem Con speech and jumped on your band wagon when you announced for Nomination race, I find it difficult to take your words on their face value. Eventhough I tempered my enthusiasm for you recently, I wanted to be open to vote for you if your are the GE candidate. I am not so sure anymore.
As a Social liberal, I take Civil Rights very seriously. I always championed Racial Equality and fair treatment for everyone. When I heard you in '04, I found it quite refreshing to hear an African American make a case for all
the right things. Now, I find it incomprehensible that the same man could sit in a congregation week after week and hear such harsh words. I abhor the notion of guilt by association. My first thought is that it is unfair to blame you for your Preacher's words. But, the more I think about it, the more I got disenchanted. You have a much stronger relationship with Rev. Wright as expressed in your words. Your association is 20 long years. That is too long in my book without being a fellow traveler.
Your speech is quite good at many points. I didn't expect you to disown Rev. Wright. It is a principled thing to do. You couldn't have done it. But, When I read it 2-3 times, I found it politically calculating at many instances. You tried it explain Rev. Wright's Racism/bigotry away. A call for honest discussion of Racism !. I would have been impressed if you had made some attempts to convey the same message to Rev. Wright. By attending the same congregation for 20 long years, you must have tacitly approved of the message of Rev. Wright. His is not the message of love and forgiveness that Nelson Mandela expressed for his oppressors.
You are correct when you said in speech that this country made enormous progress and Rev. Wright is wrong in ignoring it.
You have also cynically referred to Geraldine Ferraro's comments into the same line as Rev. Wright. She is guilty of expressing a sweeping statement of equating all your success to 'race' once in a local newspaper that few have heard of. What you did is what a conventional calculating politician does. Look.. my opponent is devious too game.
You have shown no 'judgment' (that you are fond of claiming to have) on this until you are forced
to do so. It raises doubt about the sincerity of your message of change/hope/unity. I must say that the rhetoric of the speech is good but it is quite disingenuous.
This is not Change we can believe in. Your are more of an ambitious politician who happens to be good at using words. --- GM
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain continues to gain ground in polls across the country...
March 20, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the Clintonian talking point and strategy in effort to kneecap Obama until she's the one who can lose to McCain, or if Obama's still the nominee, have him so bloodied up, that when he loses, she can say, "Told you so."
March 20, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please consider that there is no more disingenuous politician in America than Hillary Clinton. Her campaign continuously calls black white and vice versa. When an issue is politically convenient she adopts it and when it's no longer convenient it is jettisoned. The most important vote in her senate career was the vote to go to war in Iraq. She has consistently misrepresented the intention of the vote while looking for political cover.
Senator Clinton could no more give a speech on any subject with the depth, nuance, understanding,and intellecutal rigor that Senator Obama gave Tuesday than George W. Bush could.
Were there problems in Obama's message. Perhaps. But I for one accept any small problem in return for a politician with depth and grace of Senator Obama and his respect to talk to the American people honestly on a subject fraught with political minefields.
March 20, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
"You have shown no 'judgment' (that you are fond of claiming to have) on this until you are forced to do so."
That is false.
Read his books before making an accusation like that.
March 20, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, do you really believe that each Sunday for 20 years was filled with this type of speech non-stop????
Just because the 30 second You Tube video has been playing non-stop does not mean all of the parishoners were hearing this every single Sunday for 30 years.
C'mon, let's be realistic here. I also think if you would really like to be fair in your judgement of Obama you should perhaps take the time to maybe really listen to a few of the sermons in their entirety and look at what the church's ACTIONS are.
March 20, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Obama wanted to be effective in Chicago politics as a black politician, he had to belong to this church. To say he should not have been a member of the Trinity church was to say that he had no business in politics.
It isn't easy to explain the cultural divide to white people, but Obama did an admirable job. By being involved, he is most likely to ameliorate the economic and social conditions that have caused the anger expressed by Rev. Wright.
To claim that Obama's speech was "disingenuous" is disingenuous,and sounds like a camp Hillary talking point to me.
March 20, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink