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it's all about timing...is it too late? Obama and Wright
Apr 30, 2008 | 12:16 PM
Category: Political
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Did he look angry or sad?  Was he disgusted or hurt?  Should all of this have happened much sooner?

Senator Barack Obama does not speak as fast as some in the media would like.  In TV soundbite form he runs long, complete with pauses and what sometimes appears to be a superior intellect in search of the perfect word.  For far too long, glib has passed for intelligent and there's always that ever shortening attention span that sometimes appears to contracting faster in America than the GNP.  But this time it worked for Obama and it may well become the defining moment of his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright said Monday that "politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."  I think he meant that to be construed as a criticism.  But Wright has the cadences and the myopia of the 1960's.  His anger and his demeanor have been forged in the crucible of the african-american experience of that period.  When he references "liberation theology" he often cites 60's era thinkers and writers.  But for a man so filled with antipathy to the soundbite culture of the 21st century, he clings to that annoying habit that some men of the cloth wear so easily.  He will use one-liners from Jesus lifted from scripture without concern for context or extrapolation.

The Obama campaign knew this confrontation was coming.  They made the decision that Wright would have to explain Wright and not Obama.  While Wright gave every impression of ego-centric narcissim at the podium in the National Press Club in Washington Monday, his appearance there was no accident any more than were his stops before the NAACP in Detroit or with Bill Moyers on PBS.  The results of the exit polls in Pennsylvania were indisputable.  Wright and those oft-played snippets of his fiery sermons were hurting the Obama campaign.  It had to end and it wasn't going to be pretty.  But please don't think that Jeremiah Wright got out of bed on Monday morning determined to end Obama's candidacy.  He had cancelled all of his public appearances when his "sermonettes" became a national controversy late last month.  He could have cancelled all the latest ones too and probably would have if asked.  The Obama campaign disputes this and says Obama really didn't know what Wright said until his aides showed him a video of Wright's seemingly arrogant and ignorant performance on Tuesday morning.  I don't buy that.  Obama goes out and plays basketball,  watches the Wright video and seemingly without breaking stride goes out and holds the most important press conference of his career.  Watch it again carefully.  He knows exactly what he's saying and knows exactly what he wants you to know about why he's saying it.

This isn't about the upcoming votes in North Carolina and Indiana. Not really.  Obama's statements yesterday will probably not change the outcome in either state.  North Carolina will be closer than it should have been though he will most likely win.  I think he will lose in Indiana.  But when it's all said and done he will net a few more delegates than Hillary Clinton.  So yesterday's press conference and comments were aimed at the superdelegates. Most of those who haven't yet commited publicly yet are reportedly leaning towards Obama.  But they were getting nervous about his erosion of support from "angry white males." and worried about what six months of Jeremiah Wright "swift boat" TV ads would look like and the damage it would do to his campaign in the general election.

Remember the first of those ads was set to air in North Carolina on Monday.  Instead Wright took center stage in Washington...Obama took center stage on Tuesday in North Carolina and by Wednesday the "Wright in the pulpit" ad is dated and somewhat anachronistic.  The Obama versus Wright confrontation may have looked like a car wreck but it was as carefully orchestrated as a crash scene in a Hollywood film.  And just like in Hollywood, in the end, no one really gets hurt.

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goodgranny read my blog
May 6, 2008 | 3:09 PM

Why is there a double standard concerning African Americans and Whites

Subject: Bill Moyers on Wright -- May 2, 2008

His words speak for themselves. Copy attached for printing. I would like to see someone "sound bite" this.

May 2, 2008

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.

I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" Everyone he said. Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.

Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright's transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I'm not a psychologist. Many black preachers I've known - scholarly, smart, and gentle in person -- uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I've known many white preachers like that, too.

But where I grew up in the south, before the civil rights movement, the pulpit was a safe place for black men to express anger for which they would have been punished any
goodgranny read my blog
May 6, 2008 | 3:12 PM

Subject: Bill Moyers on Wright -- May 2, 2008
His words speak for themselves. Copy attached for printing. I would like to see someone "sound bite" this.
May 2, 2008
BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" Everyone he said. Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright's transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I'm not a psychologist. Many black preachers I've known - scholarly, smart, and gentle in person -- uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I've known many white preachers like that, too.
But where I grew up in the south, before the civil rights movement, the pulpit was a safe place for black men to express anger for which they would have been punished anywhere else; a safe place for the fierce thunder of dignity denied, justice delayed. I

goodgranny read my blog
May 6, 2008 | 3:15 PM

Subject: Bill Moyers on Wright -- May 2, 2008

May 2, 2008

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.

Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright's transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I'm not a psychologist. Many black preachers I've known - scholarly, smart, and gentle in person -- uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I've known many white preachers like

I think I would have been angry if my ancestors had been transported thousands of miles in the hellish hole of a slave ship, then sold at auction, humiliated, whipped, and lynched. Or if my great-great grandfather had been but three -fifths of a person in a constitution that proclaimed, "We the people." Or if my own parents had been subjected to the racial vitriol of Jim Crow, Strom Thurmond, Bull Connor, and Jesse Helms. Even so, the anger of black preachers I've known and heard about and reported on was, for them, very personal and cathartic.
That's not how Jeremiah Wright came across in those sound bites or in his defiant performances this week. What white America is hearing in his most inflammatory words is an attack on the America they cherish and that many of their sons have died for in battle ? forgetting that black Americans have fought and bled beside them, and that Wright himself has a record of honored service in the Navy. Hardly anyone took the "chickens come home to roost" remark to convey the message that intervention in
goodgranny read my blog
May 6, 2008 | 3:15 PM

Subject: Bill Moyers on Wright -- May 2, 2008

May 2, 2008

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.

Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright's transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I'm not a psychologist. Many black preachers I've known - scholarly, smart, and gentle in person -- uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I've known many white preachers like

I think I would have been angry if my ancestors had been transported thousands of miles in the hellish hole of a slave ship, then sold at auction, humiliated, whipped, and lynched. Or if my great-great grandfather had been but three -fifths of a person in a constitution that proclaimed, "We the people." Or if my own parents had been subjected to the racial vitriol of Jim Crow, Strom Thurmond, Bull Connor, and Jesse Helms. Even so, the anger of black preachers I've known and heard about and reported on was, for them, very personal and cathartic.
That's not how Jeremiah Wright came across in those sound bites or in his defiant performances this week. What white America is hearing in his most inflammatory words is an attack on the America they cherish and that many of their sons have died for in battle ? forgetting that black Americans have fought and bled beside them, and that Wright himself has a record of honored service in the Navy. Hardly anyone took the "chickens come home to roost" remark to convey the message that intervention in
JimAllen read my blog view my photos
May 7, 2008 | 5:24 PM

The "Real Deal" is Obama should have been truthful with the American People. I think Senator Obama is a good Politician, however, he must admit to his "Guilty Pleasure".

Obama's "Guilty Pleasure" was hearing the good Doctor vent, rant and rave about Slavery, Racism, and the Civil Rights Era from a African American point of view.

The Problem is not all Whites participated in African American Slavery, in fact White Folks assisted in the Creation and Development of the (NAACP, and most HBCU's).

Fredrick Douglas understood that not all Whites looked at Blacks as Slaves, Ignorant and or Inferior. Mr. Douglas before gaining his Freedom was beaten severely by one called Edward "Slave Breaker" Covey.

One would think such an action would cause a Black Man to hate all Whites, yet Mr. Douglas married a White Woman, after his Black Wife died.

The reality with the African American Experience is that "One Ancestor Sold Us" while the "Other Ancestor Bought Us". This is a proven fact as researched by African American Scholar Dr. Henry L. Gates.

I believe Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright was putting on a "Freak Show" and Senator Obama loved it. Dr. Wright stood back and allowed Obama's lies to prevail as it relates to him never hearing the Sermons in question.

We're all guilty of watching "Freak Shows", does that make us Bad People? The Women and Children who stood by waiting to see African American Bodies hang from trees (Strange Fruit) were they Bad People, or were they Good People who loved Bad Things?
linecrosser read my blog
Jul 15, 2008 | 11:24 PM

While one white sold a slave, and one white bought a slave, another white man died fighting for his freedom. I think it important to remember the first casualty of the revolutionary war was a black man at the Boston massacre. He was a run away slave who understood the value of freedom. Crispus Attucks.
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jackconaty

i'm jack conaty...the political editor at fox news chicago.

Member Since: 9/18/2006


 

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