The Candidates
The Holy One has issued his pronouncement on Reverend Wrights…indelicate political and racial meanderings. Here it is:
Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue. …
Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.
The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.
It seems to me that, on any conceivable view, this statement is a disaster. And I was worried that he going to give a Checkers’ speech. Let’s address the highlighted sections one-by-one.
“And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.”
I have no knowledge of Barack Obama’s churchgoing habits. He may attend church weekly, or monthly for all I know. But, given that these incendiary snippets came from a sampling of a bare twelve sermons, unless Obama attends church once every 5 YEARS, this statement can’t be taken seriously. It’s a politically inept statement of the worst sort. It’s deeply implausible and, very likely, falsifiable.
“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.”
This is a somewhat curious statement. Compared to the emphatic sentiments in the previous passage, it comes across as quite tepid and cautious. It appears to dodge the issue entirely. The issue is only tangentially whether Obama heard these specific sermons. These particular quotes are gleaned from perhaps 3 or 4 of dozen surveyed sermons. It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that a sitting US senator, who spends half his time in DC, and the bulk of the rest jet-setting around the country, would have missed a few hometown sermons in the last few years; Saint Barack only has so much time on his hands after all. The question is, to quote a well-known political cliche, “what did he know, and when did he know it?” and relatedly “was Barack in town for any similarly hate-filled sermons?”. He addresses these difficulties not at all. Moving on…
“But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.”
This is disingenuous at best, and quite possibly utter bunk. First of all, Barack Obama didn’t marry his wife “in the Trinity Faith Community”. He was married by Jeremiah Wright, the controversial figure in question. His daughters weren’t baptized “in the Trinity Faith Community”. They were baptized by Jeremiah Wright. By casting the issue in this light, Obama’s trying to hint that he was only in it “for the community”, and Jeremiah Wright was just an incidental annoyance he put up with every week. The facts of the case utterly bely this characterization. One does not name one’s best selling, career boosting, political tomes after a sermon by an incidental annoyance. Incidental annoyance’s aren’t official “spiritual advisers” and unofficial political advisers.
Of course, there are bigger difficulies with the statement; Obama is tacitly claiming that he would have left the church if these factors hadn’t been in place (namely, that the church had married him, had baptized his children, and Wright was on the verge of retirement). It then becomes incredibly problematic if it’s discovered (as it undoubtedly will be) that Wright has been making these sermons for decades and Obama was a well-known and frequent congregant during this time period.
Finally, even if all this is true, Obama has pronounced himself an utterly disastrous judge of character. If you can spend 20 years listening to the sermons’ of a deranged, anti-American racist, ask that individual to perform your wedding, to baptize your children, to advise and guide you in all matters spiritual and religious, and have no inkling that this sort of hate lies in waiting, then you’re a very naive sort of person. If you’re just about the only person, in comparable circumstances, who’s stunned, just stunned, by this (and I didn’t see any of the congregants recoiling in horror during these diatribes) then you ought to get yourself a Disney show, where you can make your doe eyes at an appreciative audience. You shouldn’t be running for president. In comparison, Bush’s method of looking into the soul’s of murderous thugs has all the rigor of a Sherlocke Holmes murder mystery. As a repudiation, this is an abject failure. He’s placing himself in an incredibly small box and he may have trouble getting air.
Aside: In case you haven’t caught this, Obama supporters are unbearably creepy…Every so often, you get some loon trotting out the “we are the one’s we’ve been waiting for” line appropos of absolutely freaking nothing.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
“Finally, even if all this is true, Obama has pronounced himself an utterly disastrous judge of character”
This is key. I have a very difficult time being able to see how Obama can continue to make the case that his judgement is better than that of his rivals. He constantly carps that his judgment is what makes him prepared to answer the 3 AM phone call or to serve as commander-in-chief generally. This greatly undermines his ability to use that frame of argument and that has so far been his only card available for him to play.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Obama says he doesn’t need experience because he choose the right people to advise him.
If Obama choose an Anti-American racist to advise him on his eternal soul who is he going to choose to advise him on lesser matters like national security?
March 14th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Doug,
I’m not even sure that’s the right line of attack. Plenty of controversial folks advise McCain, some even advise him “spiritually” ostensibly. But, there’s a world of difference between being ostensibly advised, in a political campaign, by someone you don’t from Adam, and inviting someone to advise you, who’s been your pastor and mentor for 20 years, and who’ve just now discovered is a shocking anti-American racist. So they’re chums for two decades, Obama finally discovers that Wright is an anti-American racist, Obama then invites Wright to be his “spiritual adviser”? Have I got the chronology right?
March 14th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Matthew, you are a beautiful writer. I always enjoy reading your well thought out and poignant opinions.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
You raise a good point. Obama was told what Wright said early in the campaign and denied it. He then went on to appoint Wright as his official spiritual adviser.
Obama is playing the “I didn’t know then what I know now” bait and switch. That’s hardly plausible looking at a sampling of “The Reverend”.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I hope this is good enough to keep Obama going for now. I’m concerned that he might implode too soon. We need the collapse to come when it’s too late to stop his nomination.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
By the way, they’ve now thrown the good reverend under the bus:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Wright_leaves_Obama_campaign.html
“Rev. Wright is no longer serving on the African American Religious Leadership Committee.”
March 14th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
BobH,
Scandals beget scandals. Obama won’t “implode”, because he’ll have his oppo researchers digging up more Hillary scandals. They’ll both end up irreparably destroyed. Politics is always a relative business. Remember Edwin Edwards’ 1991 campaign slogan: “vote for the crook, it’s important”. People will vote for the crook, if the other fellow is a Klan member. Similarly, Obama will probably hold on, if Hillary’s Clinton’s already formidable negatives spiral downwards.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Matt: I hope you’re right. Another point is that Obama’s more rabid supporters will see the very existence of these scandals as proof of his martyrdom — that the Right Wing Attack Machine (now in alliance with Hillary)is out to destroy the restoration of Camelot.
By the way, did you see the cover of Rolling Stone?
March 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
BobH,
“By the way, did you see the cover of Rolling Stone?”
Yup. I work at a library, and I saw it on the shelves today. He looks like Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. But, I guess bio-luminescence is sexy. Or something.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Advisor: “But Obama, Wright is poison!”
Obama: “He is? Since when?”
Advisor: “But Obama, didn’t you know Wright was an Anti-American psychopath?”
Obama: “I only learned the big things. What is truth. What is hope. I never learned DETAILS. I never learned who was poisonous and who wasn’t.”
(Apologogies to Steve Martin)
March 14th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
RS? Do they also carry Playboy?
March 15th, 2008 at 12:50 am
It is I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E to believe that Obama could go to this church for 20 years, have such a close personal relationship with this guy, and NOT know his views on race, America, and 9/11.
Impossible.
To believe this you must believe that in 20 years of spiritual mentoring, the pastor who hates whites so much he denounced them at his Christmas service NEVER brought the issue up in the presence of Obama.
You must believe that in 20 years of attending this church, none of Obama’s fellow congregants brought up what Pastor Wright said on this issues, despite Mr. Wright’s obvious passion and the popular response from the congregation.
You would have to believe that as Obama’s spiritual mentor and political advisor, Mr. Wright NEVER brought these issues up DESPITE THE FACT that Obama’s Plethora of Platitudes runs completely contrary to Mr. Wright’s passionate opinions on these matters. Are we to believe that the man who screams G*d D*mn America from the pulpit over and over sat in the corner like a shrinking violet while his spiritual protege ran around the country kissing white @ss?
In sum, the only reasonable conclusion I can come to is that Obama is lying, big time.