Friday, May 02, 2008
while i'm being political
I wrote a few months back about how I was hopeful that Barack Obama would show himself to be something more than your average politician. After watching him and his troubles in the press over the past few weeks, I'm left a little disappointed.
I certainly don't think he's shown himself to be any less of a candidate than Hillary Clinton or John McCain, but I do think he's proven that my hopes he would be "above" politics were ultimately unfounded. His handling of the whole Jeramiah Wright ordeal has taken a lot of the shine off the apple for me.
But let me say this: while I strongly disagree with and in no way condone the comments Wright made, I think the public and media's reaction to his comments shine a light on a pretty big double standard. Condemnation of America for her sins and saying 911 was our country's "chickens" coming home to "roost" are not new ideas in America's pulpits. Plenty of white, conservative, politically connected ministers have said the same thing and met with little or no reaction. Some ideas just seem scarier coming out of certain mouths, I guess.
Okay, that's all. No more politics.
you started it...
so how would you have rather seen him handle the whole Rev. Wright thing? I mean, he gave one of the most insightful and dignified speeches on race relations, and then when Wright went completely crazy, he swiftly and sharply denounced what he had said... all this without showing anger or frustration. Because, we both know, this country would have big problems with an angry, frustrated brother running for president.
I think he's done exceptionally well with everything - especially attempting to elevate the political discussions in this country above the level of "Candidate A's ex-brother-in-law once used the f-bomb!"
It's way past time to move past that kinda crap, and I respect Obama for trying to take the lead in that respect.
Obama '08!
I guess my issue is that Wright didn't "go crazy." He repeated the same stuff he's been saying from the pulpit for years - the same stuff that's been documented in the news for the past few weeks. This wasn't some new side to Wright that hadn't been revealed before.
Obama went from "I can't denounce him" to "Oh, yes I can." without any new information being revealed as near as I can tell. It felt very politically motivated.
Well, I do think it was "new" information when Wright proposed that the federal government had spread AIDS to kill off African Americans. That seems good reason to denouce someone.
It was a good reason to my mind - but like you said yourself, it wasn't new information. Wright's accusations have been in the news for some time now. If Obama felt those were comments worth denouncing Wright over, he should have done it much earlier than he did, in my opinion.
Also, might I say that while I never mind someone posting anonymously on my blog - doing so in a political discussion seems a little unfair to my mind. Not saying you have to reveal yourself ('cause I couldn't make you if I wanted to), but there's a certain degree of accountability that comes with knowing who said what that tends to keep things polite.
Just something to think about.
Oh wait, hold up. You said you thought it "was" new information. My bad, I totally read that wrong.
But, no, it wasn't new information. One of the unfortunate side-effects of my sadism is that I listen to a lot of talk radio, even though it pisses me off and makes me want to kill people. Wright's comments about the government spreading AIDS have been doing the rounds for some time now. It wasn't an opinion that just surfaced.
Not meaning to be dodgy, just too lazy to register since I really never post.
The Wright comments were new to me, since - you are right - I don't follow this stuff very closely. Point taken.
- Anonymous, a.k.a. Whitney
Hi Whitney. I'm sorry the one time you decided to comment on my blog I ended up disagreeing with you.
Feel free to chime in whenever you want. Next time I'll agree with you no matter what you say so that you'll feel welcomed.
To make it easy on me, though, try saying something about how cool I am.
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I certainly don't think he's shown himself to be any less of a candidate than Hillary Clinton or John McCain, but I do think he's proven that my hopes he would be "above" politics were ultimately unfounded. His handling of the whole Jeramiah Wright ordeal has taken a lot of the shine off the apple for me.
But let me say this: while I strongly disagree with and in no way condone the comments Wright made, I think the public and media's reaction to his comments shine a light on a pretty big double standard. Condemnation of America for her sins and saying 911 was our country's "chickens" coming home to "roost" are not new ideas in America's pulpits. Plenty of white, conservative, politically connected ministers have said the same thing and met with little or no reaction. Some ideas just seem scarier coming out of certain mouths, I guess.
Okay, that's all. No more politics.
Labels: politics
you started it...
so how would you have rather seen him handle the whole Rev. Wright thing? I mean, he gave one of the most insightful and dignified speeches on race relations, and then when Wright went completely crazy, he swiftly and sharply denounced what he had said... all this without showing anger or frustration. Because, we both know, this country would have big problems with an angry, frustrated brother running for president.
I think he's done exceptionally well with everything - especially attempting to elevate the political discussions in this country above the level of "Candidate A's ex-brother-in-law once used the f-bomb!"
It's way past time to move past that kinda crap, and I respect Obama for trying to take the lead in that respect.
Obama '08!
I guess my issue is that Wright didn't "go crazy." He repeated the same stuff he's been saying from the pulpit for years - the same stuff that's been documented in the news for the past few weeks. This wasn't some new side to Wright that hadn't been revealed before.
Obama went from "I can't denounce him" to "Oh, yes I can." without any new information being revealed as near as I can tell. It felt very politically motivated.
Well, I do think it was "new" information when Wright proposed that the federal government had spread AIDS to kill off African Americans. That seems good reason to denouce someone.
It was a good reason to my mind - but like you said yourself, it wasn't new information. Wright's accusations have been in the news for some time now. If Obama felt those were comments worth denouncing Wright over, he should have done it much earlier than he did, in my opinion.
Also, might I say that while I never mind someone posting anonymously on my blog - doing so in a political discussion seems a little unfair to my mind. Not saying you have to reveal yourself ('cause I couldn't make you if I wanted to), but there's a certain degree of accountability that comes with knowing who said what that tends to keep things polite.
Just something to think about.
Oh wait, hold up. You said you thought it "was" new information. My bad, I totally read that wrong.
But, no, it wasn't new information. One of the unfortunate side-effects of my sadism is that I listen to a lot of talk radio, even though it pisses me off and makes me want to kill people. Wright's comments about the government spreading AIDS have been doing the rounds for some time now. It wasn't an opinion that just surfaced.
Not meaning to be dodgy, just too lazy to register since I really never post.
The Wright comments were new to me, since - you are right - I don't follow this stuff very closely. Point taken.
- Anonymous, a.k.a. Whitney
Hi Whitney. I'm sorry the one time you decided to comment on my blog I ended up disagreeing with you.
Feel free to chime in whenever you want. Next time I'll agree with you no matter what you say so that you'll feel welcomed.
To make it easy on me, though, try saying something about how cool I am.
Post a Comment
